Row over power supply intensifies in Telangana, Revanth Reddy says KCR depended on Congress and TDP

The TPCC chief said the chief minister is also responsible for the August 2000 Basheerbagh firing incident which killed three people.

BySouth First Desk

Published Jul 16, 2023 | 12:21 AMUpdatedJul 16, 2023 | 12:21 AM

Haath-se-Haath Jodo Yatra Revanth Reddy

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao dependend on the Congress and TDP during his entire political career.

Interacting with reporters along with Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in Hyderabad on Saturday, 15 July, he said Chandrashekhar Rao was also responsible for the firing incident at Basheerbagh in August 2000 along with the then Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.

Three demonstrators were killed in the firing. They were protesting against the power tariff hike by the then-TDP government.

Even after the firing incident, Chandrashekhar Rao continued in the TDP for nine months and the same government booked as many as 25,000 power-related cases. It was Chandrashekhar Rao, who allied with the TDP in the united Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Referring to the outburst by Finance Minister T Harish Rao against him, Revanth Reddy said the minister could not even win a ward election, but former chief minister, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy gave him a chance politically.

Related: ‘8 hours of power enough for farmers,’ says Congress’s Revanth Reddy

Warning to party cadre

On the ongoing controversy over free power supply to farmers, he said the Congress knows that the power issue was crucial. Revanth Reddy made it clear to the cadre and leaders that necessary action would be taken against those who stage protests at the party headquarters at Gandhi Bhavan in Nampally.

He said the party would suspend the leaders, who violate the norms and behave according to their whims and fancies. Reacting to the protests staged by leaders from Turkapally in the Aler constituency, he said the TPCC vice president and Gandhi Bhavan in charge Kumar Rao to take action against the protesters, if they did not relent.

Revanth Reddy asked TPCC disciplinary committee chairman G Chinna Reddy to take stern action against the leaders who violated the party rules.

Vikramarka said the supply of free power was Congress’s patent and it was the party that ensured free power. As per Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, the Congress allocated 53 percent of electricity to Telangana.

After the formation of Telangana, BRS MLAs amassed huge wealth in the past nine years, he alleged, saying that the people’s agenda is Congress’s agenda. He said another yatra would soon be launched to visit all the irrigation projects in Telangana.

“We will explain to people how the Congress constructed irrigation projects in the state and how these projects benefited the people,” he said, adding that selfies would be taken at each project.