The Chief Minister was replying to the motion of thanks to the Governor's address on Saturday, 16 December.
Published Dec 16, 2023 | 9:19 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 16, 2023 | 9:19 PM
Revanth Reddy said the Congress government dismantled the barricades at Pragati Bhavan which symbolised tyranny and dictatorship. (X)
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy launched a broadside attack against the Opposition BRS, on Saturday, 16 December, criticising its dictatorial tendencies, anti-farmer policies, and blatant lack of respect for those who had laid down their lives for the state.
Replying to the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, the Chief Minister said that all sections of people suffered during the 10 years of BRS rule. There was no freedom, no one to turn to help, and no way to register protest. It was the reign of total dictatorship, he said.
The BRS members raised slogans, trying to interrupt him, but Revanth Reddy continued his vituperative speech. After Revanth Reddy’s reply, BRS member T Harish Rao tried to seek clarification but Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar adjourned the House till 20 December when the Opposition MLA’s speech targeted the Gandhi-Nehru family rule.
There were enough signs that the session would be stormy when the House met in the morning. BRS member KT Rama Rao initiated the discussion with a frontal attack on the Congress government, raising the temperature in the House.
After all the members had spoken, Revanth Reddy said that the Congress government dismantled the barricades at Pragati Bhavan (now renamed Jyotirao Phule Praja Bhavan), which he said symbolised tyranny and dictatorship.
The government also allowed people into the Bhavan to raise their problems via the government’s Praja Vani initiative.
The Chief Minister said that the people were arriving in large numbers to find solutions to their long-pending problems.
Revanth Reddy also took potshots at the BRS for not learning lessons from the recent Assembly elections. The verdict was against the family rule of K Chandrashekar Rao. But even after losing the election, the family rule continued.
KCR became the legislature party leader, despite the party having several senior leaders. Even in the Assembly, KTR, and not others, was speaking. Senior leader Kadiyam Srihari waited for a long time to speak, but seems to have left the Assembly, he said.
He said that the BRS was unable to bear the sight of the people crowding the Praja Bhavan. In the past, even the then-home minister Mahmood Ali had no access to the Pragati Bhavan. A home guard at the main gate turned away the home minister, stating that he had no clearance to let him in.
Former finance minister Eatala Rajender also faced the same humiliation. Balladeer Gaddar, who was at the forefront of the Telangana movement, was turned away after he waited for hours under the hot sun at the gates of Pragati Bhavan.
“Now the gates are open. Anyone can walk in and present grievances to the government,” he said and recalled how dictatorial KCR was when it came to the legislators of the Congress.
The BRS government had two Congress legislators — Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar — disqualified in the past for staging a protest in the House.
Accusing the BRS government of not honouring the martyrs of the Telangana movement, Revanth Reddy asked whether Pragati Bhavan had ever invited any of their families and reassured them that the government was with them in their hour of difficulty.
The government had not dropped the cases registered against the Telangana protagonists during the past 10 years.
“Why have you not reinstated in service D Nalini, who resigned as the DSP and joined the Telangana movement, after the formation of the Telangana state? KCR, his son KTR, his daughter Kavitha, and their relatives got positions and posts. The BRS, which claims to be a party that was born out of the Telangana struggle, wound up the Dharna Chowk at Indira Park. Now we have restored the Dharna Chowk. The BRS can freely organise protests there,” he taunted the Opposition party.
He found fault with the BRS for not implementing any insurance scheme to cover crops. Rythu Bheema would benefit the family of farmers only after the farmer’s death. “What is required is to help the farmer when he is alive and not his family after his death The National Crime Record Bureau statistics revealed that 8,000 farmers had died by suicide in the past decade,” he said.
The Chief Minister alleged that KCR, who had passed a decree that no farmer should cultivate paddy, grew the crop in his farmhouse on 150 acres. KCR used his position to force the millers to procure the substandard paddy at the rate of ₹.4,250 per quintal when the farmers were not even being paid ₹1,400 per quintal by middlemen.
Revanth Reddy questioned the BRS claim of increased irrigated areas in the state. “In 2014, when the state was formed, the number of borewells was 19 lakh but their number has gone up to 29 lakh now. If there is an increase in irrigation facility why should the number of borewells go up?” he asked.
He said that the BRS government had done incalculable harm to the Mahbubnagar district by redesigning the Pranahita Chevella Lift Irrigation Project.
In Mid Manair, those who had lost lands were staging pretests even now for compensation but the former chief minister’s relative J Santosh Kumar and his sister got housing sites in contravention of Rehabilitation and Resettlement rules, he said and added that Dalits who questioned illegal sand mining in Nerella village were detained and administered electric shocks by the previous government.
He said that the BRS government had subjected the students and youth to untold hardships by bungling holding SSC, intermediate, and TSPSC examinations. As the government gave the responsibility of conducting the intermediate examinations to a private agency, it led to skewed evaluation. This led to 25 students ending their lives, the Chief Minister alleged.
Watch Live: CM Sri @Revanth_Anumula speaking in the discussion thanking Hon'ble Governor for the address to joint session of Telangana Legislature. https://t.co/FaTKNPgjk5
— Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) December 16, 2023
In the morning, the Chief Minister called KT Rama Rao an NRI — “Non-Reliable Indian” — and used an objectionable term while describing the BRS members. He also said KTR walked into the Assembly from Sricilla under “management quota”, implying that he could not make it to the House without the help of his father KCR.
Revanth Reddy took umbrage to KTR’s remark that the Congress MLAs were gloating over their victory forgetting the fact that the difference in the percentage of votes between the BRS and the Congress was not even two percent.
“The BRS members are unaware that in a democracy whoever gets majority, however slender it might be, they will come to power. The spirit of democracy should pervade the proceedings of the House,” Revanth Reddy replied.
Revanth Reddy said that some “Non-Reliable Indians (NRIs)” did not know what the spirit of democracy means. “Even if we try to tell them what it is, they do not understand. The number is not important. What is most important is one’s commitment to democratic values,” he said.
He took KTR to task, answering point by point the issues he raised, and said that it was not the BRS but the Congress that had fought for Telangana’s share of Krishna waters. It was the Congress that had helped KCR to several positions of power. It was the Congress that helped him win the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and become a Central Minister, he said.
KTR said that Revanth Reddy was a Delhi-nominated chief minister and not the chief minister the people had chosen. It was the reason for the lack of culture and decorum while addressing the Opposition members, he said, referring to the objectional word Revanth had used.
KTR also lashed out at the Chief Minister for calling him an NRI. “Look who is talking about NRIs? Let him say who had sold the Congress tickets to NRIs,” he said and sought to know whether the top leader of the Congress was not an NRI.
He also recalled Revanth Reddy’s caustic remarks against Sonia Gandhi when he was in the TDP. “Everyone knows who had called Sonia Gandhi a goddess who sought sacrifices, he said and demanded the Congress immediately implement the promises it had made to the people. “If the government keeps its promises, we will appreciate it or we will continue to confront those in power,” he said.
Taking exception to Revanth’s outburst, Harish Rao said it was the TRS (now BRS) that helped the Congress come to power in 2004. He said that KCR never hankered after power or positions. When a central Cabinet berth was offered, he accepted it only after getting a promise that the Common Minimum Programme would include the creation of a separate state for Telangana.
He also recalled how magnanimously KCR had relinquished the shipping portfolio when the DMK insisted on it since he only wanted Telangana and nothing else.
Harish Rao also took objection to Revanth Reddy saying that no one had fought against the Congress government when the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy augmented the capacity of the Pothireddypadu head regulator on the foreshore of the Srisailam project on the Krishna, denying water to Telangana.
“I want to set the record straight that all the six TRS ministers in the late YSR Cabinet in 2004 had left. While leaving, we said that it was in protest against the injustice being done to Telangana,” Harish Rao said while acknowledging that P Janardhan Reddy was the only Congress leader who fought against the move.
The discussion on the motion of thanks began after Speaker Prasad Kumar declared BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao as the Leader of the Opposition. Later, Parigi MLA T Rammohan Reddy (Congress) moved the motion seconded by Chennur MLA Vivek Venkataswamy.
