BJP kept its T promise: Rajnath

• BJP chief says they made Cong concede T demand
• Promises good governance, growth in Telangana

Meeting sidelights

• 272 drummers enthralled the crowd with their synchronized performances. This initiative was part of party’s ‘mission 272 plus’ to make Modi next PM.
• BJP national leader Venkaiah Naidu did not attend the meeting. There were no cut-outs and banners of him at the ground either.
• Interestingly, there were two different slogans on the banners at main stage. One claimed credit for Telangana and the other sounded the poll bugle.
• Rajnath Singh was presented ‘Rama Banam’ (arrow) to conquer the Congress party, which the BJP leaders described as ‘evil.’
• BJP national president started his speech in Telugu
• Some women came to the meeting with Telangana Bonam and Bathukammalu on their heads.
• Nizam College students watched the proceedings, sitting on the sidewall of their college

Hyderabad: BJP national president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday gave a clarion call to people of Telangana to support their party in upcoming General Elections to ensure good governance and overall development of Telangana as well as the successor State of Andhra Pradesh.

The state BJP unit organised Telangana Avirbhava Abhinandana Sabha at Nizam College Grounds to thank the party top brass for supporting Telangana Bill in parliament. Addressing the meeting, the BJP president accused the Congress party of playing "dirty politics" over the Telangana issue. He said that the Congress was compelled to give Telangana due to the pressure of Bharatiya Janata Party. He said that if the Congress party was sincere about Telangana, then it would have initiated the bifurcation process long back. He said the credit for T State becoming a reality should go to the people who sacrificed their lives for the cause of separate Telangana.

He said BJP did its job in keeping the promise on statehood and hence the onus was on Telangana community to extend their gratitude by giving clear mandate to the party both in Assembly and Parliamentary elections.

However, he was highly critical of the manner in which the Bill was passed which showed vote-bank politics of Congress party. It pitted people of Telangana and Seemandhra to fight against each other instead of taking proper steps to address the concerns of both sides.

The BJP president praised his Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and claimed that Gujarat emerged as a model State under his leadership.

He also condemned AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for accusing RSS of murdering Mahatma Gandhi. He said that the Congress leaders should learn history before leveling such baseless allegations. Rajnath appealed to the people to take a vow for Congress-mukt-Bharat for progress and development of nation and the region.

Referring to the development BJP ruled states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Rajnath said there every village has been provided with drinking water and 24-hour power supply. The development in these states has been acknowleged by USA and even the Rajiv Gandhi foundation of which Sonia Gandhi is the chairman. Besides national leaders Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Prakash Javadekar, the state unit was in full attendance in the meeting. However, Venkaiah Naidu was conspicuous by his absence. Arun Jaitley said that the Congress party was not willing to give Telangana till the last minute. However, it was only due to BJP's support and pressure that it initiated the bifurcation process.

The other leaders who participated in the meeting were BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, BJP state president G Kishen Reddy, Bandaru Dattatreya, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Dr K Laxman also spoke.

Sudish Rambotla and Uppala Sharada who had left TDP recently joined BJP on this occasion.