KCR treats TS as personal jagir, birthday celebrations misuse of state exchequer: Shabbir

Hyderabad: Former minister and former leader of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has strongly condemned the "misuse" of state's exchequer to celebrate the birthday of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Thursday.

Mr. Ali, in a media statement, said the Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) has issued an order on 16 February asking the principals of all schools to organise programmes in connection with the CM's birthday. Each school was sanctioned Rs. 10,000 to conduct skit/drama and plantation drives, for distribution of sweets, recreation games, and awards. They were asked to hold programmes discussing the role played by KCR in the formation of Telangana and other initiatives like Mission Bhagiratha, Palle Pragathi, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, and other welfare schemes.

The Congress leader said the expenditure from the state's exchequer to celebrate KCR's birthday was an open misuse of public money. "Why are the taxpayers' money being used to celebrate the birthday of KCR?" he asked while accusing the Chief Minister of misusing government schools like TMREIS and other institutions to spread TRS propaganda. "Children belonging to poor and middle-class study in TMERIS and other social welfare schools. Instead of imparting them proper education, the KCR government is misusing them as a platform to promote falsehood and lies," he alleged.

Mr. Ali said all political leaders celebrate their birthdays on a grand scale. But they do so either by spending their own money or their followers take care of the expenses. However, he said, KCR was treating Telangana as his personal "jagir" (fiefdom) and misusing the state's exchequer to celebrate his own birthday.

"Just a day ago, we read the news about how North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un celebrated his father Kim Jong II's 80th birth anniversary on a grand scale. He forced everyone in the country to present flowers and pay respect. The entire expenditure on the forced celebration was borne by the North Korean government. Since KCR considers Kim Jong as his ideal, he forced the students, their parents and teachers of welfare schools to celebrate his birthday while spending money from the state exchequer," he said.

Further, he said hundreds of crores of public money have been spent by the TRS government to publish advertisements and carry out other activities in connection with KCR's birthday. "The Congress party will collect data from available resources and explore legal means to recover this money from the TRS party, which is among the richest regional parties in the country," he said.

The Congress leader also condemned the arrest of TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders on Thursday. "This was the second day in a row that the Congress leaders were either illegally arrested or placed under house arrest. This behaviour by the KCR government is totally intolerable in a democracy. We had demanded that KCR issue notifications to fill about 1.91 lakh vacancies in various departments of the state. We also wanted him to fulfill the electoral promise of giving Rs. 3,106 to nearly 40 lakh jobless youth of Telangana. These fair demands on behalf of jobless youth angered KCR and he ordered our illegal arrest or house arrests," he said.

Mr. Ali said the Congress party will intensify its agitation against rising unemployment in Telangana and its leaders would not get intimidated by the hollow threats and cheap tactics of the KCR government.