"BRS members speak out of spite, block govt work; will “overpower and cage them” says CM Revanth Reddy.
Published Dec 22, 2024 | 11:08 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 22, 2024 | 11:08 AM
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy
In a blistering attack on the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday, 21 December, asked opposition party members not to underestimate him. He reminded them that he grew up in the jungles of Nallamala, where wild animals roam.
Visibly annoyed by the BRS lashing out at the state government in the Assembly, alleging that there was gross injustice to famers and several other sections of society, the chief minister wondered why the pink party was trying to impede the progress of the state.
At one stage, he even stated that he was not angry with the BRS members; he said they were not worthy of his anger.
“BRS members speak out of spite. They have no interest in the people. Their daily work is to call me names,” the chief minister said, asserting that he would be nothing if he did not repay his gratitude to the people of the state and those of his constituency – Kodangal – for making him chief minister.
“After the country attained Independence, no one from Kodangal became a minister. Now I have become the chief minister. I am indebted to my people. I do not care what the BRS says or talks about me. No one can make me turn back. I will trample over the BRS leaders, if I have to, on my way to reaching my aim of developing my constituency,” he said.
Intervening in a debate on Rythu Bharosa, the chief minister wondered whether the BRS wanted the state to move on the road to progress.
“Why are you trying to impede progress? Why shouldn’t Kodangal have industries? Why shouldn’t the youth here get jobs? Why shouldn’t they study medicine?” he asked.
Referring to the violence at Lagacharla, where there are protests against the proposal to acquire land for a pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster, the chief minister said that the BRS leaders, after getting some villagers drunk, sent them to attack the officials when they went to the village for conducting a public hearing.
“Why are you against the officials? They served you when you were in power. The farmers, incited by you, had stoned the officials’ vehicles,” he said.
The chief minister claimed that the BRS was opposing everything the state government was taking up.
“Is it wrong to develop a pharma city in Mucherla, a stone’s throw from Shamshabad Airport? The government tried to acquire lands which do not have irrigation facilities. I wanted to locate companies which could provide employment to the youth. But you provoked the youth into attacking the officials!” he said.
He took a swipe at KT Rama Rao (KTR) saying that he had studied in a college in Guntur which is in Andhra Pradesh, but he was not like him.
“I come from a village in a forest. Unlike him, I am not in this position because of my father. I came up the hard way in public life,” he said.
Revanth Reddy had earlier referred to his younger days at Nallamala while addressing a ‘farmers’ festival’, organised as part of the Congress government’s first anniversary celebration in Mahbubnagar.
The chief minister also took potshots at former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao asking whether this is the kind of discipline that he was teaching party cadre.
“The BRS is trying to stall the Musi Rejuvenation project, which was conceptualised by BRS. If the BRS members try to disrupt the development initiatives of the state government, we know how to deal with them. We will overpower them the way we control wild animals and put them in cages,” he said.
Revanth Reddy said the state government was borrowing to repay the interest on loans that BRS had raised when it was in power.
“I am not going in for loans to build farm houses in Janwada or Moinabad,” he said, adding, “had the previous government not gone in for indiscriminate borrowing, the present government would have had enough funds for various schemes,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister asked whether the BRS in its 10-year-rule had ever thought of constructing hostel buildings.
The present buildings are an apology for hostels as the rooms are cramped and there were no toilets for the girls. “After we took over, we made a sincere effort to bring in change. We have increased cosmetics charges by 200 percent,” he said.
Referring to the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu scheme money (the state government of Telangana offers ₹5000 per acre per season to over 58 lakh farmers as a welfare measure to support investment by farmers for two crops each year) during the BRS time to those who were not in need of any financial assistance, the chief minister asked whether he should continue the BRS’ misguided policy.
“Do we have to give Rythu Bharosa to the area where there are hillocks and layouts?” he asked.
In an oblique reference to Leader of the Opposition K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), he said he had hoped that he would come to the Assembly and give constructive suggestions on the scheme as he has wisdom which he had gained by reading 80,000 books.
It may be recalled that KCR had earlier claimed to have read 80,000 books – journalists then did the mathematics behind the claim, and concluded that the then chief minister ought to have read about three books a day since the time he turned six (he was 61 at the time he made the claim.)
He said that during the BRS term in office, there were instances of people creating fake pattadar passbooks to claim Rythu Bandhu benefits.
He made it clear that if he toed the line of the BRS leadership, his party would not have come to power at all.
He wondered why the “president of the association of liars” implying KCR, had not come to the Assembly. He predicted that the BRS would eventually disappear: “It lost the Assembly elections and drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls. There is no future for the BRS,” he said.
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas).
