Amit Shah sees winds of change blowing in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to campaign for the party in the GHMC elections on the last day of campaign took the political heat a notch above when he said that the aim of the BJP was to take Hyderabad and Telangana from dynasty to democracy, from corruption to transparency, "free" Hyderabad from the "Nawab, Nizam culture" and create a "mini-India."

Addressing a press conference after his road shows, Amit Shah said the Mayor of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will be from the saffron party. He thanked the people of Hyderabad for their support to the BJP.

Referring to the comments of TRS that Delhi leaders were coming for Galli elections, he said, "Those who called this galli (a narrow street) election forgot to clean the galli. That is why they are in trouble now." He said the TRS has also been criticising the BJP for "unleashing" an army of leaders for municipal elections. He said BJP does not consider any election "small".

Thanking the people for supporting Modi during the Lok Sabha polls, Shah said, "I feel the beginning for a change has begun and Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is the next stop."

He said everything is available here to make Hyderabad as a Global IT HUB. What needs to be done to give another push is to improve urban infrastructure. The Centre and the State governments can provide grants and schemes and assist. But, it is the responsibility of the civic body to implement them.

But, the TRS and MIM have become a hindrance in doing so, he said.

The Union Minister said the appeasement policies of TRS towards the MIM had encouraged encroachments on river margins and lakes resulting in unprecedented floods in the city. The government had not even taken up desilting of drains and removal of encroachments over feeder channels of water bodies. The BJP, he said, would remove all such encroachments and make Hyderabad free from the menace of floods. The BJP will also make GHMC free from corruption.

Shah asserted that the people of Telangana are angry and upset with the ruling TRS and Owaisi's "alliance". "We don't mind if the TRS is friends with AIMIM but why are they not open about it? Why do they do 'ilu, ilu' behind closed doors," he asked.

After concluding his road show, Shah thanked Secunderabad for the immense affection. Taking to Twitter, the Home Minister wrote, "Thank you Secunderabad for the immense affection in today's roadshow. This massive support reflects Telangana's strong faith in PM @narendramodi and the BJP."

"We follow the news as well. We did not see the Chief Minister oversee rescue operations or meet with officials or do on-ground inspections with MLAs. Where was he when Hyderabad was drowning," Shah asked.

Taking a jibe at Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Shah said that the Centre had given about Rs 500 crore towards flood relief but since the CM does not go to Secretariat he perhaps does not know about it. He asked KCR to find out the details from officials.

Asked to comment about the proposed conclave of KCR against BJP, he said that KCR was free to tour anywhere to garner support from other parties to form a political front against BJP. He had done it earlier in 2016 also.