Reflections at Pragathi Bhavan….CM KCR unveils his mind : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Reflections at Pragathi Bhavan….
CM KCR unveils his mind

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has launched a sarcastic attack on the Opposition parties for their obstructive politics and for not learning lessons from their successive defeats at the polls in the State.

In a marathon press conference held at Pragathi Bhavan, the CM’s official residence and office complex, the Chief Minister spoke on a variety of issues pertaining to the State and the dubious role being played by the Opposition leaders and few persons behind the veil of Joint Action Committee which was his b rain child. In his two-hour long interaction with media, Chandrashekhar Rao made his stand clear on a host of issues and subjects and he even dwelled in to the past to clarify certain points, often reflecting on the separate Telangana statehood movement, the birth of Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) and so on. The CM also took the opportunity to reflect on several issues, incidents, experiences only to give a befitting reply to those spreading falsehood and baseless charges against the interests of Telangana people.

On the Opposition Parties

KCR blamed the Opposition parties for resorting to obstructive politics. He alleged that the Congress leaders like former Deputy CM Damodar Raja Narsimha from behind the scenes organized filing the cases before National Green Tribunal against Kaleshwaram project with farmers in the forefront. “We are aware of the people behind these cases. Otherwise, which farmer can afford to hire a lawyer paying Rs 6 lakh per day to fight the case,” he questioned. He said that the Opposition parties have no agenda but to obstruct the State government’s initiatives.

He also found fault with the Opposition parties for objecting to novel initiatives of his government like agriculture input capital, purification of land records and for organizing farmers and bringing them on common platforms in villages/Mandals/Districts in Telangana State as well as for formation of Rythu Samanvaya Samithis. “Rythu Samanvaya Samithis do not have any executive powers and are formed only for coordination between farmers. How can they replace local bodies in a democratic system?” he questioned. He pointed out that following the allegations by the Opposition parties, Governor ESL Narasimhan personally made a surprise visit to two districts and found the ongoing purification of land records transparent and satisfying. He appreciated the efforts of the revenue employees in rectification of land records with their hard work.

The CM said that the Opposition leaders have no vision and they are not used to witnessing the promises made being implemented. “They are worried over volume of the welfare programmes that this government has launched and successfully implementing. Have they ever thought of extending Rs 8000 per acre to farmers as input subsidy? Do they ever think of distributing 84 Lakh Sheep to Yadava and Kuruma communities? They are unable to digest the good programmes of the government aimed at developing and making people economically independent. They should realise that the people are rejecting their brand of politics. Even the Left parties who claim that they are progressive should change their ways. The Opposition in the State has failed miserably to identify what are the real issues. Unless they change they have no future,” the CM said. He is also upset with the tone, tenor and language used by certain opposition leaders and expressed the view that criticism should be healthy.

On Singareni Collieries Company Limited

Thanking the Singareni workers for ensuring huge victory to the TRS affiliated Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham in the just concluded Recognised Workers’ union elections in Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the Chief Minister reiterated that he would implement all the promises made. He said jobs under the compassionate grounds category, removing the false identity jobs, Rs 6 Lakh for housing, Rs 25 Lakh, as one-time compensation, health care and other promises will be implemented. He said efforts would also be put in to give representations to the workers on SCCL Board. The CM said efforts would also be made to hand over Bayyaram Mines to the SCCL and to expand the Company’s operations abroad.

CM announced that 6 more underground mines would be taken-up, which will offer more employment. He admitted that the earlier office bearers of the TBGKS did not function properly and assured that he would himself monitor their activities two hours once in a month.

CM said never had any union got 45.4 per cent vote share in the Singareni polls in the past. “It is a historic victory for the TBGKS as the TRS-backed union defeated the united opposition. Even though all the opposition parties got together against the TBGKS, we created history by winning in nine out of the 11 divisions in SCCL,” he said.

The CM also reiterated how the trade Unions like INTUC, BMS, HMS and AITUC have signed on the agreement, which put an end to the hereditary jobs. “The trade Unions have signed the agreement in 1998 and in 2002 against the policy of dependent jobs. “When the TRS government tried to give the dependent jobs, the Opposition leaders went to Court and brought the stay. And the same leaders are spreading falsehood that we are against the dependent jobs. This is the irony,” KCR pointed out. He also recalled how due to BJP senior leader and the then Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya SCCL elections were delayed by six months.

On caste politics

Stating that caste will not play any role in public life, the Chief Minister took strong exception to the comments made against him by opposition parties that he is a “Dora-meaning a Feudal Lord!”. He said he is from a middle-class farmer family and does not own a ‘Gadi’ (fort).  It is in fact the Telangana Pradesh Congress President N Uttam Kumar Reddy who is a Dora in Telangana. He (Uttam) has a Gadi. KCR said in his case Dora suffixation (Velama Dora) is a cult and not a caste. He said his community constitutes a microscopic one point one per cent of the total population in the State.

CM added that, though, his catse is in a minority in Telangana, he became leader only because of his leadership quality and hard work (Leader is one who leads). TDP founder President NT Rama Rao also recognised his leadership quality. However, he had to wait for more than 11 years to become a minister due to caste politics. The CM refuted the opposition charges that he is encouraging caste politics. He said in Telangana 90.65 per cent population belongs to backward, SC, ST and Minority communities and the remaining 9.35 per cent only are forward castes. KCR said TRS won more seats even though his community people are minuscule in the region. He asserted that the only caste supports he has is the Telangana and its people.

On emergence of new political parties

Replying to a question, CM KCR said it is a misconception that persons would run political parties. `The reality is that equations and situations would only play important role in winning the elections for every party,’ he said NTR and himself succeeded in the politics because of the situation prevailed. To validate his concept, CM recalled how a great leader Dr M Channa Reddy who led the 1969 Telangana movement and secured 11 Lok Sabha seats under Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) lost the Lok Sabha seat to Congress Candidate J Chokka Rao in Karimnagar despite getting the support of the then TDP when he launched national democratic Alliance (NDA). KCR albeit in a lighter vein said that setting up a political party is not launching a Pan shop. He reminded how Actor Chiranjeevi launched party, contested elections and left it in the lurch as though he had done away with a heavy burden on his head.

On false propaganda

Sharply countering to the criticism on social media platforms over the government initiatives, the Chief Minister took serious objection over the false propaganda, defamation or making fun of the State government and elected representatives and warned that this will not be tolerated in the name of criticism. “We may have to book cases and initiate stringent action on those who resort to such cheap acts. However, we welcome healthy criticism in case we are unable to reach out to people,” he said.

Further, Chandrashekhar Rao stated that the State government was making steady progress on the path of achieving Bangaru Telangana. He rubbished the allegations of the Opposition parties over the State government’s failures and said that Congress and TDP together ruined the State for more than six decades and the TRS government has been trying to clear the mess. “One cannot achieve Bangaru Telangana overnight and people are not stupid to believe if someone makes such statements. We made a humble beginning and are making steady progress in the direction of Bangaru Telangana,” he said.

On Government Jobs

On apprehensions over notifications for government jobs, Chandrashekhar Rao stated that there are only three to four lakh government jobs and notifications have been already issued for about one-lakh jobs. He explained that all the unemployed youth need not accept government jobs and should explore job prospects in private sector. He pointed out that the government’s TS-iPASS ensured establishment of over 4,000 industrial units in the State without any scope for red tape and corruption.

On Green Tribunal

KCR termed the stay order issued by National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the ongoing works of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme as a temporary setback. The State government would approach the Supreme Court to vacate the stay as the process of obtaining necessary environmental clearances is in progress, he said.

On Welfare schemes

The Chief Minister said that welfare schemes like KCR Kits had yielded the desired results with the novel initiative witnessing phenomenal growth in delivery of babies in government hospitals from around one-lakh deliveries per annum to 5.8 lakh deliveries this year as per latest information. He downplayed the death of a few sheep distributed under the Sheep Distribution Scheme as a common and trivial issue.

On Hyderabad City

On inundation of Hyderabad city due to sudden downpour this week, Chandrashekhar Rao said that the only option to solve the problem is to demolish around 12,000 encroachments on Nalas and other drainage networks to facilitate flow of storm water. “We need over Rs 13, 000-14, 000 crore to pay compensation for these partial or complete demolitions as well as for taking up repairs. One cannot clear the mess created by the previous governments over 60 years overnight,” he added.

On GST

The Chief Minister termed the implementation of GST by the Centre as an experiment. He pointed out that even in countries like US, it had failed and they had to revoke it. However, he felt that it was too early to draw conclusions and said only time will decide it’s fate. He felt that ‘One Nation One Election’ proposed by the Prime Minister may not be possible as it lacks clarity and could pose practical problems as not all States which went to Assembly polls recently will agree.

On Pandit Nehru, Indira and Sonia

It was because of Gandhi family – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi- Telangana suffered a lot.  Nehru merged Telangana with AP. Indira suppressed first phase of Telangana movement and Sonia accorded statehood to Telangana only after 1000 people sacrificed their lives for the cause, CM said. 

On the puny Kodandaram

While terming Kodandaram a “small fellow” and a poisonous creature, CM Chandrashekhar Rao said Kodandaram never wanted the TRS to come to power. He said Kodandaram along with Jairam Ramesh had drafted the Congress manifesto for Telangana and successfully thwarted the attempts by the congress to have an alliance with the TRS. Or else, KCR said the Congress would have been sharing power in the State. KCR has dared the TJAC chief to enter electoral politics, if the former professor has any guts. “Kodandaram is one of the thousands and lakhs of workers groomed by me during the Telangana movement. It was me who set up the TJAC. But, now, Kodandaram is spewing venom on our government. He is working for the Congress,” the CM said. “Kodandaram is imagining himself to be very big. That is his problem. Not even 500 people were present during his yatras undertaken recently against our government. He has never been elected, even as a sarpanch, in his life,” Rao ridiculed. The chief minister claimed that he was the one who set up TJAC and made Kodandaram its chairman. “I am the first to restart the Telangana movement in 2001. Then all others followed,” Rao said. 

On Janareddy

KCR also lambasted CLP leader K Jana Reddy for the latter’s “opportunistic politics.” He said Reddy mortgaged Telangana for posts during Congress rule in the erstwhile-united Andhra Pradesh. When the then CM K Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy did not accommodate Janareddy in the Cabinet, he (Janareddy) floated a Telangana Forum and when he was made the Agriculture Minister, he had abandoned the Forum. “In the Assembly Lobbies when Janareddy requested my support, I told him that he was an opportunist and utilising Telangana for his selfish ends,” KCR recalled.