Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) supremo and Chief Minister of Telangana State K Chandrashekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, who achieved a separate State for Telangana after a prolonged peaceful, but
strategic fight, is now training his guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Union government for its indifferent attitude towards States, and anti-people policies.
KCR, who has been expressing his displeasure over the Modi’s government for anti-federal approach while dealing with the issues related to taxes and sanctioning of funds to the States, has once again sent strong signals to the BJP government at the Centre that he would not budge to the pressure of the BJP. He sent this message through his recent meetings with former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav, and AAP founder President and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his visit to Delhi. Chandrashekhar Rao, who is known for his oratory skills in Telugu, Hindi and English, is making all out efforts to prove the BJP-led Central government accountable for the poor economic growth of the country. He is trying to blame the BJP government for the crisis of agriculture, and loss of livelihood of the labourers in the country. During his visit to the Northern States, KCR has explained the conspiracy of the BJP to impose a huge burden on the farming community with its attempts to fix meters for the agriculture pump sets at farmlands. He termed the Centre a wicked and cruel government that is insensitive towards the farmers and the poor of the nation.
He already made it clear on the floor of the Assembly that he would not yield to the dictates of the Centre for fixing meters for the motors of the farmers. “I cannot remain a mute spectator while the Centre is doing injustice to the farming community,” he said, and this was reiterated by him in Delhi. He issued an ultimatum to the Centre. Addressing the farmers of Punjab, KCR minced no words on the issue. Thus, he has almost begun his war with Centre. He is all set to meet different leaders of the States in the country with the nationwide tour.
With his lengthy discussions on the anti-people policies being adopted by the Centre, he is pitching for a nationwide debate on the Centre’s attitude towards the people of the nation, and its attempts to trample on the rights of the States. KCR is leaving no stone unturned to bring up the issue of the suffering of the common man with soaring prices of essential commodities, petrol, diesel and LPG and drawing out the difference between the circumstances during the previous governments and the situations prevalent at present.
“Debts have risen, but not the GDP. GST has been brought in. Taxes have gone up. There is not a single new irrigation project built in these eight years with the money that has entailed in the increase of revenue. There has not been a single nationwide multipurpose project. Neither new universities nor hospitals like AIIMS,” KCR said.
“There has been a widespread discussion on the achievement of GST. Needless to say, what about the promises that the prices would be under control with a uniform tax system in the country. What about rising prices? What are the traces of millions of industries that were shut down due to the GST.
What about the loss of jobs to the millions with the closure of industries? What benefit was there with the ban of currency?
Who got the benefit of bringing in 2,000 notes? Have the poor been benefited? Has there ever been a time in the past when farmers in our country were on a warpath for months at a stretch? Why did this happen? Why did the Prime Minister finally have to apologize to the farming community? Why are the cases against those who question? There is a need to bring more awareness among the people of the country on many such issues. These are the questions being raised by the TRS Chief.
It seems that KCR has almost entered national politics with his nationwide tour. He is trying to project Telangana as a model for the development in the country by comparing the Telangana region while it was with the united Andhra Pradesh, and the development made after the formation of the separate State.
He is questioning as to why such projects are not coming up in other States. About 60 TMCs of water from various rivers of the country is going waste into the seas. “At least one-tenth of it is not consumed by the country. In the past, the Centre lent a helping hand in the construction of the projects. But with the advent of the BJP government, there has been no new shift in agriculture in the country. Not a single project has been built in the field of irrigation. Our country is basically an agricultural country. It is the largest producer of cotton and jute in the world. Along with them food crops are grown in large quantities. It is the number one vegetable grower in the world besides a leader in the dairy industry. All these are just successes to the State governments. Before the formation of Telangana State, paddy was cultivated in 23 lakh acres in the State, but presently it has risen to 56 lakh acres. Earlier, groundnut, green gram and other pulse varieties were not given importance because then Telangana became a desert with scarcity of water,” according to CM KCR.
Telangana succumbed to the onslaught of the leaders of the combined State. Drought was widely prevalent. In the early days of formation of the Telangana State, with the restoration of ponds under the name of Mission Kakatiya, water could be traced again in the villages. Godavari water is made to reach every village and the lakes and ponds were filled to the brim. Emptied wells are now full and the dried bores are continuously working. Meanwhile, drought across Telangana has disappeared due to flooding of reservoirs constructed due to lift irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).
Telangana farmers are now getting water, and 24/7 electricity supply free of cost. Telangana is the only State in the country which has made the dream of the farmers come true. All these should be spread across the country. The whole country should be green. The industrial sector should also compete with that of the other countries in the world. China, which was once inferior to us, is competing with America. We are the only country with the largest youth population and extensive human resources with whom the country can work wonders.
Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao is leaving no stone unturned to explain to the people of the nation that the BJP is not doing anything towards the development of the country
