KCR must step down as CM: Shabbir

Kamareddy: Former minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that K. Chandrashekhar Rao had no moral right to continue as the Chief Minister of Telangana after High Court has indicted his government of furnishing false information on RTC issue.

He was speaking to media persons on Friday at the 'Maha Dharna' at Kamareddy which was organised as part of Congress party's nationwide protest against wrong economic policies of BJP Government at the Centre.

Shabbir Ali said that the division bench of High Court headed by Chief Justice R. S. Chauhan admonished the officials for suppressing the facts on RTC dues and payments. Since the officials were representing the Chief Minister, entire blame goes on KCR for forcing the officials to furnish incorrect information. "The remarks made by the High Court were quite serious and unprecedented. KCR has no moral responsibility to continue on the CM's post and he must immediately step down," he demanded.

He pointed that in 1964, the then Chief Minister Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had resigned voluntarily following unfavourable observations made against the Government of Andhra Pradesh by the Supreme Court in the Bus Routes Nationalisation case. Similarly, in 1992, N. Janardhan Reddy had step down following his indictment in colleges capitation fee controversy. He said those leaders took responsibility of every action under their regime. However, KCR appears to have no morals or ethics and therefore, he did not even react on such serious remarks by the High Court. He said that the High Court, on Friday, stayed the KCR Cabinet's decision to privatise 5,100 routes till further hearing on Monday. "Over a dozen major decisions of TRS Government have been reversed by the High Court in the last five years. Instead of learning from mistakes and taking corrective measures, KCR became habitual of facing court's wrath for wrong decisions," he said.

Earlier, addressing the 'Maha Dharna' at Kamareddy, Shabbir Ali elaborated on the economic failures of BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government was solely responsible for the economic slowdown which pushed almost all sectors into crisis. "While the GDP growth rate has come down to 5%, the growth rate in all core sectors has touched a new low with India's global ranking slipping down to 7th position from 5th. Unemployment Rate is highest in 45 years with creation of new jobs coming to a halt. Instead, crores of existing jobs were lost due to demonitisation and faulty GST. Industrial growth had come down to just 1.1% in August while manufacturing sector growth rate going in negative," he said.

"In 2014, PM Modi had promised to deposit Rs. 15 lakh in every account. However, the situation has turned so worse that people were not having sufficient money to buy FMCGs. Nearly Rs. 1.75 lakh crore were lost due to more than 25,000 bank fraud cases under BJP's regime. With no money in the market, Central Government is now emptying the reserves of Reserve Bank of India. So far, it took away almost Rs. 4 lakh crore from RBI reserves. Further, the Centre collected nearly Rs. 13 lakh crore from common people by way of taxes on Diesel and Petrol," he said.

Shabbir Ali said that the economic situation in Telangana was much worse. "As against the Budget Estimates of Rs. 137,226 crore for the financial year 2019-20, the overall collection this year till end of September 2019 was Rs. 59,049 crore. This includes loans of Rs. 14,704 crore. Tax Revenue has dropped by nearly 50%. Compared to collection of Rs. 8065 crore in August, the Tax Revenue in September 2019 was just Rs. 4,843 crore. Last year (September 2018), the Tax Revenue was Rs. 8,774 Crore. Compared to overall Tax Revenues of Rs. 38,103 crore from April to September 2018, this year the collection was just Rs. 37,594 crore. Therefore, there is no growth, but the revenues have actually dropped," he said.

The Congress leader also slammed the TRS Govt for pushing Telangana into a debt trap. Telangana Govt has borrowed Rs. 14,702 crore in the last six months. "Telangana had inherited debts of nearly Rs. 69,000 crore at the time of its formation in June 2014. But TRS Govt has pushed Telangana State into huge debts and presently, we owe nearly Rs. 3 lakh crore. This year, Telangana Govt will be spending Rs. 14,575 crore only to pay interest on loans. This year, the government has so far paid Rs. 4,664 crore only towards interest," he said.

Shabbir Ali alleged that TRS Govt was using escalated figures to show Telangana as rich State. "Lakhs of jobs were lost in Telangana after GST and demonitisation and strangely both the decisions of PM Modi had the support of KCR. Nearly 30 lakh youth are jobless in Telangana. More than 18.25 lakh highly educated youth are registered with Telangana State Public Service Commission. KCR is neither providing them job nor giving promised Unemployment Allowance of Rs. 3,016 per month," he said.