CM keeps suspense on early polls, but TRS’ ‘mother of all rallies’ seen as precursor to that
Despite weather threatening to play spoilsport and intermittent rain turning the area into a slushy mess, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Sunday held the “mother of all political rallies”, which saw Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao asking people whether they want to be slave of “Delhi Empire” or master of their own destiny. The mega rally is seen as precursor to early Assembly elections in the State.
Kongara Kalan adjoining the Outer Ring Road on the outskirts of Hyderabad turned into a sea of pink as lakhs of TRS workers and supporters from all over the State thronged the rally.
Addressing the gathering at the Pragati Nivedana Sabha (progress report rally) at Kongara Kalan, KCR urged the people of Telangana to emulate the example of Tamil Nadu, where the regional parties run the State keeping out the “Delhi parties”.
Without taking name of the Congress or the BJP, the Telangana CM targeted the Opposition and said their only aim is to remove KCR from power. “TRS is your representative. Some people want you to become slave to the Delhi Empire. Telangana people should understand and decide whether our decision making should be in our own hands or in the hands of Delhi rulers. These parties decide even their Assembly tickets in Delhi. These people are the slaves and sycophants of Delhi,” he said.
“like Tamil Nadu, Telangana should be ruled by our own parties,” he said.
Senior Minister K Taraka Rama Rao said, “It will go down in history for the biggest ever meeting in the country. Never in the past such a big meeting was held. Whenever the elections are held, this meeting will be helpful in energising the party cadre.”
Without elaborating whether he will opt for early elections, KCR said his party had authorised him to take a decision which will be good for the State, for the people and the TRS. “You will know the decision in the days to come,” the CM said.
listing out the achievements of his Government over the last four years and three months, he said Telangana has become the number one State in economic development. “In the current financial year of 2018-19 also, the State will record the highest economic growth of more than 17%,” KCR said.
“We have already fulfilled 56 election promises and you can see the benefits of every scheme,” KCR said.
The Telangana CM said his Government is dedicated to the welfare of weaker sections and the poor, including farmers, weavers, shepherds, backward classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities
“Telangana was born to wipe the tears of the poor,” he said listing out various welfare schemes including the debt waiver, free power to farmers, incentives for crops and insurance, pensions and assistance for the marriage of the poor girls of all the communities. He said supply of tap water to each and every household in the State under Mission Bhagiratha will also be realised soon. “Telangana is the only State in the country to supply 24 hours free supply to the farmers,” he added.
Stressing that he was sincere for the welfare of minorities, KCR said, “Telangana is the only State in the country to allocate a budget of Rs 2,000 crore for the minorities while the Government of India has allocated only Rs 4,000 for the entire country”.
Earlier, with an eye on the elections, the State Cabinet showered a host of benefits to backward classes. In its meeting held just before the rally, the Cabinet decided to allot 71 acres in Hyderabad for the construction of “BC Bhavan” for the backward classes. The Cabinet also decided to allot 5 acres to build a hostel for the Reddy community. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by the Chief Minister.
Briefing the media, State Finance Minister E Rajender and Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said the Cabinet decided to increase the honorarium for “Gopala Mitras” from Rs 3,500 to Rs 8,500 per month and increase the salaries of contract doctors to Rs 40,000 per month.
The Cabinet also decided to increase the retirement age of the priests in Hindu temples under endowment departments from 58 to 65 years and pay them salaries at par with the State Government employees. The honorarium for ASHA workers or accredited social health activists was increased from 6,000 to Rs 7,500 per month. It will benefit 27,000 women working in the field of health in rural areas.
While thousands of TRS supporters had arrived on Saturday night itself, the venue started getting filled up around noon as buses, trucks, tractors, tempos, cars, two wheelers and other vehicles started arriving with loads of people.
Normal life was hit and thousands of commuters were stranded at many places including Hyderabad as almost all the buses of State road transport corporation were hired by the TRS.
Many parts of Hyderabad, including Secunderabad, experienced traffic jam as TRS supporters took out rallies on bike and convoys of buses and other vehicles left from different spots for the venue.
All the highways connecting Hyderabad to districts specially Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Kalwkurthy, Khammam and Nalgonda were crammed with buses and vehicles. A rally of 4,000 bikes came from Medchal constituency. There was a competition of sorts among the TRS leaders on who brings more people to Kongara Kalan.
A festive atmosphere prevailed as welcome arches, banners, festoons and flags in pink colorado were put up on all the routes. Cut outs and big hoardings of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members Minister K Taraka Rama Rao and daughter and MP Kavita dotted the routes and the sprawling venue. In some of TRS cutouts, KCR was shown in the avatar of Hindu mythological figures of Ram and Krishna.
Elaborate security arrangements were made in and around the venue by deploying 20,000-odd personnel of the State police, armed police, special police, blue colts and other units. Police personnel were mobilised from all over the State to help the Rachakonda commissionerate officials.
Two hundred CCTV cameras were installed and senior officials were monitoring every nook and corner of the crowded venue from the conman and control centre.
While the huge dais had the capacity to accommodate about 600 people, the ground was divided into 16 galleries for various sections. 50 big lED screens were installed on which the people watched the proceedings. local folk artists, singers and dancers entertained the crowds with their performances as the cultural programmes highlighted the struggle for separate Telangana State, role of KCR as its leader and achievements of the TRS Government during last four years.