Hyderabad, March 16 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will corner Congress government in Telangana legislature over unfulfilled poll promises, party’s working president and former minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Monday.

On the first day of the budget session of state legislature, he along with the party legislators visited the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial (Gun Park) before attending the Assembly session.

BRS MLAs and MLCs paid tributes to the martyrs and staged a protest at the memorial, raising slogans against the Congress government.

During the protest, BRS leaders demanded the immediate implementation of the promises made by the Congress government, particularly the Six Guarantees. They also demanded that the government grant legal status to these guarantees and allocate adequate funds in the state budget for their implementation.

Speaking to the media later, KTR said that it has been a long-standing tradition for BRS legislators to pay respects to the martyrs whose sacrifices made the formation of Telangana possible before attending Assembly sessions.

KTR strongly criticised the Congress government in Telangana for what he described as a betrayal of farmers and the people of the state. He alleged that the Congress government has deceived every section of society by failing to fulfil the promises it made before coming to power.

The BRS leader said that the BRS will raise these issues forcefully during the ongoing Assembly budget session and expose what he called the Congress party’s betrayal of Telangana. He particularly criticised the government’s alleged plan to allocate ₹1000 crore to Rahul Gandhi while neglecting farmers in the state.

KTR pointed out that the Congress party had promised to implement the Six Guarantees within 100 days of coming to power and had even declared that legal status would be granted to these guarantees in the very first Cabinet meeting after assuming office. However, he said that even after two and a half years in power, the government has failed to provide legal backing to the Six Guarantees.

He recalled that during the first Governor’s address after the Congress government came to power, the state government had announced that legal status would be granted to the Six Guarantees.

The Chief Minister had approved the speech and the then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had conveyed it in the Assembly. Despite this, he said, the government has failed to fulfil its commitment even after multiple Assembly sessions.

KTR criticised the government for failing to implement key welfare schemes for farmers. He said that during the BRS government led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Rythu Bandhu funds used to be credited to farmers before the sowing season. In contrast, he said, farmers are now completing harvests without receiving any support from the government, and there has been no clarity from the state on when the assistance will be released.

He said the BRS will question the government during the Assembly session on why it is prioritising political expenditures while neglecting farmers. “This is why we are raising the slogan – ‘Not Rahul Bandhu, give Rythu Bandhu; Rs 1,000 crore for Rahul is a betrayal for farmers,’” he said.

KTR further accused the Congress government of deceiving multiple sections of society. He said the government had promised a budget allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore for weaker sections over five years.

With two budgets already presented and the third underway, at least Rs 60,000 crore should have been allocated by now, but there is no clarity on this commitment.

–IANS

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