The CPI(M) releasing its list of candidates is being seen as a result of its frustration over the deadlock in alliance talks with the Congress.
Published Nov 03, 2023 | 7:57 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 03, 2023 | 7:57 PM
Congress's Revanth Reddy addressing the media. (Screengrab)
Even as the CPI(M) unilaterally released its first list of candidates for 17 Assembly seats it wants to contest, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy, on Friday, 3 November, said that talks regarding an alliance will continue with the Left parties as they happen to be Congress’s “good friends”.
The CPI(M) releasing the list of candidates is being seen as a result of its frustration over the deadlock in alliance talks with the Congress, which remains unresolved.
Replying to a question at a press meet organised by the Telangana Union of Working Journalists at Basheer Bagh Press Club, the TPCC president said, “Our national leadership, as well as a team of the PCC, are actively engaged in talks with our left friends.”
The TPCC chief admitted that there was some delay in arriving at a consensus on seat-sharing but added that talks are going on. “As far as I know, the talks have not ended,” he said.
Even though CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram gave the Congress an ultimatum that his party would do it alone or strike an alliance with the CPI, the warning is being taken as a negotiation tactic to get the other person to agree to its terms.
The CPI and the CPI(M) were unhappy over the Congress not honouring the earlier consensus of allotting two seats each to the Left parties.
Revanth Reddy made serious allegations against Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao over “corruption” in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.
Taking serious exception to the trolling by the BRS that he had mistaken an extension gap on the barrage for a crack, Revanth Reddy clarified that the sinking of piers had made the barrage cave in and, as a result, the gap between two blocks on the barrage had widened.
He denied ever saying that it was a crack and wondered if the Irrigation Department portfolio should always remain either with KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao (first government of KCR) or with KCR himself (in the second government), unless KCR’s family planned to take advantage of the portfolio to resort to irregularities.
The TPCC president ridiculed the BRS government for saying that if the Congress came to power, all welfare schemes would be ended.
“Has it happened in the past? Power alternated between NTR and the Congress for a long period. Did either government cancel any of the welfare schemes? Each time a party came to power, it only increased the welfare schemes,” he said, asserting that it was the Congress that had implemented welfare schemes for the poor for the first time and has been continuing them ever since.
Referring to the Rythu Bandhu scheme, Revanth Reddy said that it was originally a Congress idea, which was included in the 2014 manifesto, but KCR, after coming to power, stole the idea from the grand old party and implemented it as his scheme.
“We had promised ₹10,000 per year per acre to farmers in our manifesto in 2014. Today, we are promising to give ₹15,000 under Rythu Bharosa,” he said.
Pointing out the “unemployment problem” in the state, Reddy alleged that there are 30 lakh youth registered on the website of Telangana State Public Service Commission for jobs.
He said that the Congress delivered its promise of creating Telangana state with a good understanding that it was not a politically prudent decision.
The TPCC president said despite anticipated political loss in Andhra Pradesh, AICC former president Sonia Gandhi took steps for the formation of Telangana.
But the Telangana that the Congress gave as a gift to the people was now being trampled upon under KCR’s feet, he claimed.
Revanth Reddy said that the development of Hyderabad was because of the seeds sown by the previous Congress government.
“It was because of the planning done by the Congress that the cleansing of the Musi river, construction of roads with international standards, and the growth of the IT sector in Hyderabad took place. In fact, HiTech City was conceived by former Congress chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy,” he said.
He added that the Congress had a master plan for the comprehensive development of Telangana by 2050.
The Congress leader said that KCR was a dictator masquerading as a politician.
“We can face a dictator or a criminal. But facing a dictator and a criminal in the guise of a politician is forcing us to look for other means,” he said, adding that the kind of repression that was in force in Telangana was not there even during the days of the Telangana movement.
