Hyderabad, Aug 3 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and former Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao on Sunday cautioned people that if they vote for the ruling Congress party in by-elections, it would stop even the existing welfare schemes.

He strongly criticised the Congress party’s 20-month rule in Telangana, calling it incompetent, anarchic, and riddled with corruption.

Rama Rao was addressing a meeting of party workers from the Jubilee Hills constituency, where the vacancy arose following the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath recently.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, urged the public to teach a fitting lesson to the Congress for betraying every section of Telangana society through false promises and deceptive declarations.

He alleged that top Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge misled the people of Telangana with fake declarations during the elections.

“Congress leaders, including (CM) A. Revanth Reddy, have failed to fulfill the promises they made and have instead cheated the people,” KTR said, adding: “Such a deceitful government must be shown its place.”

KTR warned that if people vote for Congress again in by-elections, even the existing welfare schemes may be discontinued. He reminded the gathering that several welfare programs have already been stopped since the Congress came to power.

“The Congress believes that people have accepted their scams and corruption and hence have even halted developmental works,” he said.

He also accused both the BJP and Congress of colluding in Telangana politics.

“The BJP-led Central government is shielding Revanth Reddy’s corruption, which is why the Prime Minister hasn’t filed a single case against him,” KTR pointed out. He alleged that the only agenda of these two parties is to defeat the Telangana-based party, BRS.

Expressing outrage over the demolition of poor people’s homes in Hyderabad, KTR said, “If a poor man builds a small shelter on government land, it’s ruthlessly demolished. But the government turns a blind eye to the illegal constructions of the rich.”

He accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, his brother, ministers, and Congress leaders of building homes in lakes and tanks without facing any action, while poor people’s homes are bulldozed on weekends without even serving notices.

He lamented the suicide of an elderly woman in Kukatpally out of fear that her house would be demolished.

KTR highlighted that under the BRS government, Hyderabad was developed into a leading metropolitan city. “Through G.O. 58, we gave legal ownership to over 1 lakh poor families and secured their livelihoods. We also implemented welfare schemes like Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi for girls’ marriages,” he said.

He asserted that former chief minister KCR never indulged in religious politics, and that’s why there were no Hindu-Muslim or Andhra-Telangana clashes during BRS rule.

During the meeting, KTR paid tribute to the late Maganti Gopinath and said that the by-election, necessitated by his untimely demise, should be taken seriously. He called on the cadre to work hard to ensure victory. “Let us hoist the pink flag once again in Jubilee Hills as a tribute to Gopinath garu,” he told the party workers.

He directed each worker to take responsibility for at least 100 votes or 25 households and explain the difference between KCR’s administration and the current Congress regime to the public.

–IANS

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