KCR slams Congress during first poll rally

HYDERABAD: Within a day of dissolving the Telangana assembly seeking early elections to the state, caretaker chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday kicked off his campaign to seek fresh mandate for his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to continue the “good work” he had done in the last four years and three months.

Addressing a huge rally at Husnabad in Siddipet district, the TRS president played the Telangana self-respect card to whip up the regional passions among the people, asking them not to be subservient to the Delhi rulers but to vote for self-rule. He spared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but targeted the Congress party all through his 30-minute speech.

KCR said that the Congress party, which ruled for more than 50 years in the 71-year old independent India, had miserably failed to build the country as a strong nation. While several countries had achieved tremendous progress in various sectors, India was lagging far behind them even after 70 years.

“Congress alone is responsible for farmers’ suicides, poor power supply in villages, lack of irrigation schemes in several parts of the country and collapsing of economy,” he alleged.

The chief minister said it was only because of the neglect of Telangana in various fields, including education and employment, people of the region were forced to fight for separate state. “Had the Congress developed the region in all spheres, the TRS would not have been born to take up the fight for separate state,” he said. The TRS chief said his government had “sacrificed” nine months of its valuable term by dissolving the assembly, only to sustain the unhindered progress the state had witnessed in the last four years.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttamkumar Reddy described the fight against TRS in the coming assembly polls as a a “Dharma Yuddham” (war of righteousness).

“We call upon all political, non-political forces in Telangana, NGOS, civil society organisations, students bodies, employees organisations, all political parties, including Telugu Desam, to join forces to defeat this corrupt government by treating these elections as a ‘Dharma Yuddham’,” he told reporters.

(With PTI inputs)