It is a mixed bag of pluses and minuses as the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government spruces up for People's Victory Celebrations from 14 November to 9 December.
Published Nov 12, 2024 | 9:54 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 12, 2024 | 9:54 PM
KTR and Revanth Reddy. (File pictures)
The Congress in Telangana is set to celebrate its one year in power from 14 November, the birth anniversary of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The “People’s Victory Celebrations”, as it is called, will conclude on 9 December, coinciding with the birthday of former AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
However, the annual report card of the A Revanth Reddy government is a mix of pluses and minuses. The government performed in some areas but failed in several others.
Led by the then Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Revanth Reddy, the party rode on an anti-incumbency wave built over a decade of BRS rule, and six guarantees it had made to the people. The Assembly election was held on 30 November.
Though the guarantees kindled hopes of a better life, Congress seems to be struggling to keep the promises even after 11 months in power. With coffers running dry, the government has been finding it hard to fulfill its commitments.
Even as the government struggled to implement the six guarantees, it launched programmes to reclaim the full tank levels and buffer zones of water bodies and rejuvenate the Musi River.
The programmes sparked controversies, helping the BRS allege that the government was trying to divert the people’s attention from its failure in implementing the promises.
The government formed the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to evict encroachers from tank levels. The agency began its work with the demolition of actor Nagarjuna Akkineni-owned N Convention Centre at Madhapur. However, HYDRAA did not take up any high-profile demolition but targeted houses that had come up on the banks of lakes.
The move invited widespread protests and HYDRAA has now confined itself to regulation of vehicular traffic.
The Musi Rejuvenation Project which took center stage as HYDRAA withdrew, provided enough fodder for the Opposition to target the ruling dispensation. The BRS saw the ₹1.5 lakh crore project as a major scam in the making. The party repeatedly said that it would stop the razing of the houses on the Musi River bank.
Revanth Reddy retorted, saying he would drive bulldozers over them if they did. The chief minister’s comment came even as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s condemnation of “bulldozer politics” was fresh in people’s minds.
The BRS fired yet another salvo at the government over the awarding of contracts related to AMRUT 2.0 works.
Alleging nepotism and corruption, the Opposition party accused the government of awarding a ₹1,137 crore tender for AMRUT 2.0 works to Shodha Infrastructure Limited, a firm promoted by Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law Srujan Reddy.
With a few days remaining to complete one year in power, the Mahalakshmi scheme — offering free rides to women and transgenders on state-run non-luxury buses — has been the only visible guarantee implemented. Though the pre-poll commitments of free power supply of up to 200 units and LPG cylinders at a subsidised rate of ₹500 each have been met, they have been riddled with complaints.
It has been alleged that many eligible people have been left out since these two guarantees pegged the eligibility criteria on ration cards issued many years ago.
The Congress top brass, including Sonia Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi, announced the six guarantees at a public meeting at Thukkuga in Hyderabad on 17 September last, ahead of the Assembly elections amidst much fanfare.
The party played its cards well and announced the six guarantees after its five promises in neighbouring Karnataka had catapulted it to power. The Congress had promised to implement all the six guarantees in Telangana within 100 days of assuming office.
Congress leaders even issued guarantee cards and distributed signed bond papers. The trick paid off. The Congress steamrolled to power.
As soon as Revanth Reddy took over as the chief minister, he rolled out two promises: Free bus rides for women and enhancing the health insurance cap to ₹10 lakh from ₹5 lakh under the Aarogyasri scheme.
In February this year, two more promises were implemented — 200 units of free power supply under the Gruha Jyothi scheme and refilling of LPG cylinders at ₹500 each, which also fell under the Mahalakshmi scheme. The remaining guarantees have not been implemented.
However, the state government implemented another of its major promises which were not part of six guarantees: ₹2 lakh crop loan waiver to farmers. But the BRS contested the claim saying that many eligible farmers were left out as the government imposed several conditions.
A public spat between the Opposition and the ruling party over loan waiver went on for several months. While the BRS tried to prove that Revanth Reddy reneged on his promise, the chief minister said that all genuine beneficiaries have been covered.
The state government claimed that it had waived ₹2 lakh crop loans of all 22.37 lakh farmers at a cost of ₹17,934 crore. It said that it was the only government that directly deposited ₹18,000 crore to farmers’ accounts within 27 days. But the BRS went for the Congress jugular, saying that the crop loan waiver was a hollow claim. It said lakhs of farmers had been left out of the crop loan waiver scheme.
Though the Telangana government had allocated ₹53,196 crore for the six guarantees in its ₹2.75 lakh crore Budget for 2024-25, it has been struggling to make both ends meet.
Presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said, “We have proposed ₹53,196 crore for six guarantees. Additional allocations will be made as and when required.” Nothing happened later.
Though the government had allocated ₹7,740 crore for Indiramma Housing, the work has yet to begin. Recently, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said that the state was hard up for money but added that it would go to any length to fulfill the Indiramma housing scheme for the homeless.
The Budget also made an allocation of ₹2,418 for the Gruha Jyothi scheme. In January, ahead of the state Budget session, Revanth Reddy constituted a Cabinet sub-committee for implementation of the six guarantees. The committee became more or less defunct due to paucity of funds.
The unfulfilled guarantees include payment of ₹2,500 to the woman head of households a month under the Mahalakshmi scheme. In fact, BRS working President KT Rama Rao on Tuesday, 12 November, dared the Congress leaders to make at least one woman in Telangana say that she had received the amount.
The government has not fulfilled its promise of paying ₹15,000 per acre annually to farmers under Rythu Bharosa. The BRS alleged that Congress wound up the BRS’s Rythu Bandhu and has not yet implemented Rythu Bharosa. Consequently, the farmers lost even what the BRS government used to pay them — ₹10,000 per acre per year.
The BRS has been successful in rousing its rabble against all the schemes of the state government. It kept raising issues related to scams that had been breaking the surface at regular intervals and how Revanth Reddy had been poaching BRS leaders. The Congress has already spirited away 10 of its 38 MLAs.
The BRS has been successful in showing the Congress in a poor light by contrasting defections with the avowed principle of the Congress against such practices and favoured amendment to Constitution to disqualify any defecting legislator.
KT Rama Rao even described Telangana as a “Goat Mandi” for the Congress, indirectly referring to Kharge’s comment that the BJP was buying Congress MLAs as though they were goats in Maharashtra.
The ruling Congress, even as it was busy nailing the BRS leaders in scams that took place under the previous dispensation, has been forced to watch their backs with the Opposition party being ever alert to dig up scams taking place under the watch of Revanth Reddy.
For instance, Rao recently alleged that the Telangana chief minister flouted all norms while entrusting the ₹14,350 crore Kodangal Lift Irrigation Scheme to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) and Raghava Constructions.
The BRS leader said the state government had awarded the work to PV Krishna Reddy-led MEIL and Raghav constructions owned by Revenue Minister Srinivasa Reddy’s son. He accused the government of deliberately disqualifying reputed and experienced companies such as Larsen & Toubro, and NCC at the technical bid stage.
In May this year, BRS accused the Congress of committing irregularities of over ₹1,100 crore in the sale of paddy and purchase of fine rice. Rao demanded that the state government cancel the tenders and probes by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the CBI, and the vigilance department.
He also alleged the involvement of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and senior Congress leaders in Delhi and said the state remained callous to the demand for an investigation.
“The scam involved calling global tenders for the sale of 35 lakh tonnes of paddy and the purchase of 2.2 lakh tonnes of fine rice for residential welfare hostels. In both instances, a scam of about ₹1,100 crore took place,” the BRS alleged.
The Opposition party said that a committee was appointed on 25 January, and the same day, guidelines were released and tenders were called, in which “corruption stank for miles”.
Rao said that the local rice millers offered to buy paddy at ₹2,100 per quintal but the government changed the eligibility criteria. Those who got the work included Kendriya Bhandar, LG Industries, Hindustan Company, and Naqaf even though they quoted prices between ₹1,885 and ₹2,007 per quintal, ₹93 to ₹200 below the local market rate.
After winning the tenders, the companies began extorting money from rice millers. The allegation was that they demanded ₹2,230 per quintal, citing the need for them to make payments to leaders in Delhi and to fund the party’s election expenditure. He further alleged that the companies collected ₹700 crore from millers by imposing an additional levy.
The BRS working president alleged another ₹300 crore scam in the purchase of 2.2 lakh tonnes of fine rice meant for welfare hostels. He came down on the government for purchasing rice at ₹57 per kg when it could be procured locally at ₹35 per kg from the millers. Together, they amounted to ₹1,100 crore, he said.
Meanwhile, BRS leader Manne Krishank alleged that the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) was involved in a scam while awarding the project of digital ticket vending and intelligent ticket issuing machines.
He said the tendering process was kept under wraps. The notice calling tenders was not even posted on the TGSRTC website, he argued. He alleged that the Congress government, after cancelling the tenders initiated by the previous BRS government, went for offline tender in January this year.
Krishank said that about 52 lakh tickets were being issued on a daily average and taking into account the sale of tickets for 365 days annually for years, the commission would run into crores.
The BRS also alleged corruption in the transportation of fly ash from the Ramagundam thermal plant of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
It accused Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar of being involved in the scam. According to BRS legislators from Karimnagar, lorries transported 73 tonnes of fly ash each but the records showed that they carried only 32 tonnes per truck. They said that about ₹50 lakh was siphoned off daily by allowing excess fly ash transportation.
In what has turned out to be Telangana Congress’ liquor scam, Krishank alleged that the Congress government was indulging in giving approvals to companies of questionable credentials for supplying liquor to Telangana.
The BRS leader said Som Distilleries and Breweries Limited in Madhya Pradesh had communicated to the National Stock Exchange that it had received approval from the Telangana government to sell its beer brands in the state. He alleged that Som Distilleries had Congress connections.
Krishank said that Som Distilleries had donated ₹1.3 crore through IndusInd Bank to Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in 2019-2020.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
