Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) said the time had come for Telangana people to give a holiday to the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government, which had declared a crop holiday.
KTR said the Congress government had given a holiday to its election promises, including six guarantees, crop cultivation, electricity supply, pay revision commission (PRC) recommendations, and retirement benefits.
"The Congress government has declared holidays for everything. The only way to get rid of this misery is for the people to give a holiday to the Congress government itself," KTR said.
The BRS working president expressed anger over the Congress government, saying that while it had announced a Farmer Declaration before the elections, it was now collecting self-declarations from farmers.
He criticised the Congress government for the situation in Telangana, where farmers were being forced to submit self-declarations stating that they would protect their crops on their own.
KTR alleged that farmers across Telangana were struggling to save their crops using generators and water tankers because of the drought caused by the Congress government's failures. He expressed concern that farmers had reached a stage where they were setting their own crops on fire.
He criticised Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for focusing on the Musi River beautification project to earn commissions while crops were drying up due to a lack of irrigation water and power cuts.
"Who asked for Musi beautification? They have hatched a plan to loot Rs 1.5 lakh crore without even preparing a detailed project report (DPR)," KTR alleged.
He demanded that Revanth Reddy immediately stop what he described as the drama surrounding Musi beautification.
KTR said the project would not benefit anyone as it was being undertaken without proper reports or public consent and was causing widespread destruction.
He alleged that while people were being subjected to severe hardships and forced to observe various holidays, Congress leaders, including Revanth Reddy, were enjoying themselves with commissions.
He demanded that the Musi project be stopped immediately and that the proposed Rs 1.5 lakh crore be diverted towards providing relief to the people.
KTR further alleged that Telangana had become an ATM for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and that thousands of crores of rupees were being wasted on publicity in the name of the Global Summit.
He claimed that the previous Global Summit had failed to attract even a single investment or generate a single job.
"That is why I call it a Goebbels Summit, not a Global Summit," KTR remarked.
KTR strongly criticised the state government's alleged negligence despite drought conditions caused by inadequate rainfall.
He questioned why the government was concentrating entirely on the Musi beautification project, with a proposed expenditure of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, while the state was facing severe drought and drinking water shortages.
He alleged that during the public consultation organised on the Musi beautification project, people, affected residents and elected representatives were prevented from expressing their views, describing it as an undemocratic act.
KTR asserted that the BRS was the only party fighting strongly for the rights of people affected by the Musi project.
He further alleged that the government had initiated a massive financial scam in the name of loans from the Asian Development Bank, even though no DPR had been prepared for the Musi beautification project.
He questioned the government's priorities, accusing it of ignoring people's hardships and farmer suicides while focusing only on contracts and beautification works.
KTR also criticised the government for allegedly delaying an inquiry into the sinking of pillars at the Medigadda barrage, despite three years having passed since the incident.
He alleged that while farmers were struggling due to shortages of drinking and irrigation water, the government was claiming that the state treasury had no funds but was simultaneously spending crores of rupees on Musi beautification.
KTR said people were facing difficulties because Rythu Bandhu assistance had not been fully disbursed, the Rythu Bima scheme had been discontinued, and pensions and unemployment allowances were not being provided.
He expressed concern that power holidays announced for industries were severely affecting the industrial sector and that frequent power cuts could force several industries to shut down.
KTR demanded that the government immediately release the pending Rythu Bandhu funds to support farmers struggling with drought conditions.
He also urged the government to complete pending irrigation projects and provide relief to the farming community.
Referring to employment in the information technology sector, KTR said the government itself had acknowledged a decline in IT jobs in Telangana.
He claimed that the number of IT jobs stood at 9,46,000 when the BRS government left office and that the Congress government had admitted that IT employment had declined by around 7,000 jobs since it came to power.
KTR questioned the need to organise a Global Summit when the state was facing severe drought conditions.
He demanded that the government release a white paper detailing the foreign visits undertaken over the past three years, the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed, the investments received and the number of new jobs created.
He claimed that the previous BRS government had attracted investments worth lakhs of crores of rupees without organising such Global Summits.
KTR also questioned the justification for inviting tenders worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the Musi beautification project when people across the state were struggling to access drinking water.