KCR trying to bully Opposition leaders: Congress

​Hyderabad: Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Saturday alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was speaking in a language which was worse than of a ‘rowdy-sheeter’. Addressing a press conference here, along with Congress Legislature Party deputy leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned the Chief Minister for threatening to send the Opposition leaders to jail.

“While addressing the public during the celebrations of agreement between Telangana and Maharashtra for construction of irrigation projects on the Godavari on August 24, Chandrashekar Rao stooped down to the level of personally targetting TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy. After luring 25 MLAs, four MPs and several MLCs into the TRS fold, he has turned too arrogant due to the power of corruption money,” he alleged.

“If somebody criticises the policy of the government, and if the person criticised is a public figure, he has to face it instead of using the State machinery to choke criticism,” he said. Shabbir said the Chief Minister should at least follow Supreme Court’s directives in dealing with Opposition leaders. He said Chandrashekar Rao’s behaviour was not good for a healthy democracy.

The Congress leader demanded that Chandrashekar Rao immediately withdraw his remarks to protect the sanctity of his post. He said the Congress leaders fought for country’s freedom and also to achieve statehood for Telangana. Therefore, going to jail for people’s cause was not a new thing for Congress leaders. “If you have guts, put us behind bars,” he challenged the Chief Minister while predicting that Chandrashekar Rao and his family members were bound to go to jail for the irregularities they had been committing since 2014.

Shabbir Ali challenged Chandrashekar Rao for an open debate on agreement with the Maharashtra government. He said the previous Congress regime proposed 16.4 lakh acres ayacut under Pranahita-Chevella project while the TRS government was promising 18 lakh acres ayacut under Kaleshwaram. Only to add an ayacut of 1.6 lakh acres, the TRS government was planning to spend an additional amount of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore.

Further, he said Chandrashekar Rao was wrongly claiming that pact with Maharashtra would take the total ayacut to one crore acres. “In its advertisement published in media, the TRS government itself mentioned that the total ayacut through new projects on the Godavari would be 18 lakh acres. I challenge Chandrashekar Rao to prove how he proposes to get one crore acre ayacut from Godavari,” he said.

He also ridiculed Chandrashekar Rao’s statement wherein he offered to cut his neck if he failed to provide one crore acre ayacut. “He told the same thing when he promised to make a Dalit the Chief Minister, 12% reservation for Muslims and STs. How many times Chandrashekar Rao wants his neck to be severed?” he asked.

Shabbir Ali said Chandrashekar Rao’s controversial remarks were primarily aimed at diverting people’s attention from real issues. “Instead of addressing crucial issues, Chandrashekar Rao is busy celebrating the pact with the Maharashtra government,” he said while demanding that the proposed Assembly session from August 30 be held for at least 15 days.

He alleged that the State government was convening the Assembly only to fulfill the constitutional obligations of holding the session at least once in six month. He said the government was not serious on discussing people’s issues.