TRS govt comes under Congress fire

Hyderabad: The Congress Legislature Party on Monday demanded that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government come out with a white paper on the status of election promises that it fulfilled during the last two years.

• Cong seeks white paper on performance; status report on graft charges
• Says TRS focuses on three things – defections, elections and celebrations
• Favours smaller districts, but asks govt to consult Oppn, experts and public

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) office here, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir, along with Deputy CLP leaders T Jeevan Reddy (Assembly) and Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy (Council), said the TRS government had kept people confused by making a series of promises to the people.

“While Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has claimed that 99 percent of promises have been fulfilled, other TRS leaders are claiming 100 percent implementation. They must come out with a white paper to clear the confusion and enable the people to decide the genuineness of their claims,” he said.

Shabbir Ali said the TRS government had remained focused only on three things - defections, elections and celebrations. Chandrashekar Rao violated all norms to lure legislators of other parties into the TRS.

He manipulated election processes and misused official machinery to win by-polls and local bodies elections. Rest of the time, he kept the officials engaged in organising celebrations on one count or the other,” he alleged.

The Congress leader slammed the TRS government for engaging the entire State administration for organising grand celebrations of Telangana Formation Day. “Usually small committees are formed in each department to arrange such celebrations.

But under the TRS rule, right from the Chief Minister to a peon, everyone is busy in celebrations,” he said while adding that grand celebrations were aimed at diverting the people’s attention from the failures of government, especially in handling the drought situation and farmers’ suicide. He demanded that the State government immediately clear the third instalment of crop loan waiver scheme.

Shabbir Ali also criticised the Chief Minister for initiating the move to create new districts on unscientific basis. He said while the Congress was in favour of formation of more districts, it strongly opposed the way Chandrashekar Rao was going ahead with the proposal without having a road map. He said several factors such as geographical location, population, infrastructure and resources needed to be taken into consideration to carve out new districts.

“The Chief Minister must consult Opposition parties, experts and also seek public suggestions or complaints from all districts across the State. However, Chandrashekar Rao wants to create more number of districts on flimsy grounds,” he alleged.

Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy asked the TRS government to submit a progress report on its two-year rule. He also demanded status report on corruption, based on the complaints on toll free number launched by the government last year.

He also suspected hidden agenda behind the ongoing controversy between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over irrigation projects. He slammed the Centre for being a mute spectator to the dispute between two Telugu States.