Congress kick starts its campaign with Jogulamba blessings

​Alampur: Kick-starting its campaign for the next Assembly elections from Alampur of Jogulamba Gadwal district on Thursday, the Congress came out with its guns blazing at caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The Congress leaders took the Chief Minster to task after they performed special puja at Jogulamba temple.

A pantheon of Congress leaders, including AICC Telangana In-charge RC Khuntia, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and party’s star campaigner Vijayashanthi led the charge against the TRS and the caretaker CM. Uttam Kumar Reddy defended his remarks calling caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao a 'batte baaz' (cheat).

He said in Hyderabadi dialect a habitual liar and cheat is called 'batte baaz' and the term perfectly fits Chandrashekar Rao as he has cheated all sections of society during his four-and-a-half year regime. "Not a single electoral promise has been fulfilled by KCR. Poor Dalits did not get three acres of land; homeless people were not given double-bedroom houses; promise of 12 per cent quota for STs and Muslims remained unfulfilled; one job for every household proved to be a mirage and all other promises made by KCR proved hollow and fake. For these reasons, I am calling KCR a 'batte baaz' and 'dhokay baaz'," he said.

He said the Chief Minister has made tall claims while addressing a public meeting in Nizamabad on Wednesday. He asked Chandrashekar Rao to speak on the status of electoral promises which he made in 2014 elections. He said even the Chief Minister would not be able to deny the fact that none of the promises has been fulfilled. He said the time has come to teach Chandrashekar Rao and TRS a fitting lesson in next elections.

Accusing the Chief Minister of shattering the aspirations and hopes of people of Telangana from the new state, the TPCC chief alleged that Chandrashekar Rao and his family had lived a lavish lifestyle using public money.

"While poor people lived without a shelter, he constructed a palatial bungalow 'Pragati Bhavan' for himself on 9 acres of land by spending Rs 500 crore of public money. Many people lost their lives after they were forced to travel in old RTC buses. But Chandrashekar Rao got a huge fleet of luxurious cars and Rs 7 crore Mercedez Benz bus for his personal travel.

Chandrashekar Rao preferred to stay in his bullet-proof bathroom in Pragathi Bhavan to meeting common people in State Secretariat," he said while adding that Chandrashekar Rao would be remembered in history for his lies, laziness and lethargic attitude towards people.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress party was all set to come to power in next elections. He said a people's manifesto was being prepared by the party to address the concerns of all sections of society. He said that next Congress government would completely revive the farm sector by helping farmers at every step from procuring seeds to sale of their produce.

Former leader of CLP in Assembly K Jana Reddy said that the Chief Minister has cheated the people by not keeping the promises on MSP to farmers, jobs to the youth and on the educational schemes to the students. Star campaigner Vijayashanthi said that the state has gone into the hands of the feudal lords which has been achieved with lot of struggle and sacrifices. She said that Sonia Gandhi ensured statehood to Telangana.

Recalling her character in ‘Oseay Ramulamma’ movies, she said that the people of the state have been facing similar problems being faced by that character. She said that though she considered TRS chief as his brother, she was necked out of the party. The meeting was also addressed by party affairs incharge RC Khuntia, former MLA DK Aruna and others.