Telangana rulers betrayed Sonia Gandhi after touching her feet: Kharge

Sangareddy: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said those ruling Telangana today should feel ashamed of themselves for betraying Sonia Gandhi after touching her feet.

Without naming the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Kharge said the same people who used to visit her house, touch her feet, and get photographed with her, have betrayed her today and have joined the BJP in criticizing her. During the Telangana statehood movement, KCR often used to visit Gandhi’s residence.

Addressing a largely attended public rally here today, he said, it was Sonia Gandhi who had granted statehood to Telangana thus fulfilling the long pending demand of people. He said the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had now become the B-team of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was criticizing the Gandhi family like them (the BJP leaders).

Kharge said the Gandhi family had a special relationship with Telangana. He pointed out that when Indira Gandhi was elected from here to the parliament and became the Prime Minister, she set up three public sector units here including the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) and an ordinance factory which helped the area immensely.

Lashing out at the KCR-led BRS government, the Congress president said it had pushed the state into a debt trap with about Rs 5 lakh crore of debt within nine years. He said when Telangana was created, it had no debt and now it was under a severe debt. He asked, where did the money go as the public did not benefit in any way.

Announcing special guarantees for the people of Telangana on the pattern of Karnataka, he said that under the Mahalaxmi scheme, every woman in the state will get Rs 2,500. All women will be provided free bus travel facility.

Besides, he added, gas cylinders will be provided for Rs 500. Reacting to claims of some BRS leaders that the guarantees announced in Karnataka had not been fulfilled, Kharge suggested to the local Congress leaders that they should organize a tour of all those who were doubting the implementation of guarantees in Karnataka and take them there to see it for themselves.

The Congress president also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for presenting appointment letters to people. He said this job is done by a clerk and not by the Prime Minister of a country. He also reminded people how he (the PM) promised to provide two crore jobs every year, which means by now there should have been 18 crore jobs in nine years. He said there were thirty lakh vacancies pending in various central government offices and only a few thousand had been filled.

Urging people to vote and elect the Congress, he said, the party had an immense role in creating a separate Telangana state, which was the long cherished dream and demand of the people here. Besides, he pointed out that Congress always delivers what it promises, unlike the other parties like the BJP and the BRS.

Among those present on the occasion, included Manikrao Thakre, Revanth Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka, Jagga Reddy, and others.