Which would you prefer, a milch buffalo or a he-buffalo? KCR asks the voters of Huzurabad who voted for BJP's Eatala Rajender last time.
Published Nov 17, 2023 | 9:15 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 17, 2023 | 9:15 PM
Telangana Chief Minister KCR at an election rally. (X)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday, 17 November, warned farmers against supporting the Congress which, he said, has been vowing to disband the Dharani portal.
Addressing election rallies in Karimnagar district, the chief minister said that if there is no Dharani, there can be no Rythu Bandhu — the scheme which pays landowning farmers ₹10,000 per acre annually.
“We are able to credit Rythu Bandhu money into your accounts because of the Dharani portal,” he said. He asked the crowd whether the Dharani portal should be shut down, eliciting a thunderous negative response.
The chief minister, at the rallies on Friday, called the Congress and the BJP to account on various issues and wanted the people to make a wise decision and support the party that would help them rather than those who are out to take them for a ride.
Lashing out at the BJP in Huzurabad constituency, represented in the Assembly by his bete noire and saffron party’s MLA Eatala Rajender, he wanted the people to support the BRS nominee Padi Kaushik Reddy this time.
“You have hurt me once in the past. This time elect Kaushik Reddy. Which would you prefer? A milch buffalo or a he-buffalo?” he asked, the reference being to Rajender exiting from BRS and being elected on a BJP ticket in the Huzurabad byelection.
Incidentally, Rajender is taking on KCR in his home consituency of Gajwel.
As the Huzurabad is held by the BJP, KCR targeted the saffron party which he said was vindictive against the BRS.
“Though the Union government had sanctioned 157 medical colleges in the country, not even one was allotted to Telangana. Though the Act lays down that one Navodaya schools should be sanctioned to each district, none has been allotted for Telangana, even though we have created more number of districts,” he said.
He wanted to know why anyone should vote for BJP which has not done anything for the state.
“We have four BJP MPs in the state. But they have not done anything. We have written to the Union government but no one pays any attention to our proposals for development works,” KCR said.
The chief minister said the BJP has become vengeful after the BRS government put its foot firmly down on the Union government’s proposal that electric meters should be fitted to agriculture pump sets.
“As we did not play along, the Union government cut down the borrowing eligibility of the state by ₹25,000 crore,” the chief minister alleged.
At Karimnagar, the chief minister blamed the BJP for the communal strife in the state and elsewhere in the country. He asked the people to teach a fitting lesson to the saffron party as it is obsessed with religion.
He recalled the voters electing a BJP nominee (former BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar) in the last Lok Sabha elections and how they were suffering now.
“I want you to recollect how the time used to be when B Vinod (of the BRS) was MP, and how it is now,” he said.
“When Vinod was the MP from Karimnagar, he had the city included under the Smart City project. Now there is nothing of the sort. They (BJP leaders) are only preoccupied with digging up masjids. Will any one who has any semblance of decency and decorum dig up mosques?” he asked.
