Telangana cabinet minister K T Rama Rao addresses the gathering during a road show ahead of Telangana Assembly elections, in Kamareddy district, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: As the poll campaign for Telangana reached its final leg and the opposition party upped its ante, the ruling BRS's working president and state's industries minister, K T Rama Rao presented a 'report card' on how Telangana had transformed under KCR-led party's rule since 2014. He sought to challenge Congress for a debate on Telangana's progress in the last nine and half years.
“Except Hyderabad, the remaining nine districts were declared as backward by the then Congress-led Union government, and these districts were receiving Backward Region Grant Fund. Now, due to rapid development, each of Telangana’s districts recorded higher per capita income than the national average. Despite facing many teething problems as a newly formed state, Telangana emerged as a progressive state within a decade. CM KCR with a vision had constructed Kaleshwaram and other irrigation projects with an expenditure of Rs 1.70 lakh crore which made Telangana overcome the drought situation,” he said on Thursday, while showing a power point presentation about Telangana's progress.
KTR further highlighted that Telangana leads in per capita Income in the country, besides being one of the fastest-growing states in terms of GSDP. More importantly, Telangana has managed to reduced the multidimensional poverty from 13.18 percent in 2014 to 5.8 percent in 2023, he said.
He went on to say that the agriculture production increased drastically in the state. In paddy production, Telangana was ranked 14 and today it has surpassed Punjab and Haryana, he said. The acreage increased from 131 lakh acres in 2014 to 268 lakh acres in 2023, he added.
Besides extending the Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima schemes for farmers, the BRS government provides a 24-hour free power supply to ryots. It spends Rs 1000 crore per month towards free power supply to farmers, KTR said, adding “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to double the farmers’ income but it does not happen through mere dialogues. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao made it a reality by supporting agriculture and allied sectors and ushered in five revolutions.”
He also challenged Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and BJP leaders to make a presentation on public sector recruitment in their states. BJP-ruled Gujarat and Congress-governed Rajasthan could not fill 1.60 lakh jobs in the public sector as done by the BRS government in Telangana, he said.
KTR further stated that Telangana was the first state in the country to provide potable drinking water to every house, and the same was acknowledged by the Union government in the Parliament.
“The Chief Minister had promised to provide tap connections to each household, failing which he would not seek votes. Today, he has fulfilled his promise made to Telangana,” KTR reminded.
Coming down heavily on opposition parties for politicizing the Meddigadda issue, he said engineering issues occur in projects. There were issues in Dowleswaram Barrage, Prakasam Barrage, Nagarjunasagar, and even Srisailam project, he contended.
L&T had announced all the repair works would be taken up and there would be no burden on the state exchequer, he said, adding “Politics will continue even after December 3 but opposition parties should not mislead people and defame the government,” Rama Rao said.
Stressing that the BRS government is committed to completing the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project by 2024, KTR highlighted that this was being done despite an inimical Union government, which failed to address River Krishna water disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
“If Congress gets power, people will lose power,” KTR said, citing the example of Karnataka. In the 58 years of Congress rule, the grand old party could only manage to set up a 7,000 MW installed power capacity, but after the formation of Telangana, the BRS government had improved it to 18,567 MW, the industries minister asserted. After Damarcherla becomes operational by next year, the installed power capacity would increase to 24,000 MW, he added.
Referring to the reconstruction of the Yadadri temple, the BRS working president said: “Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is a devout Hindu and not a political Hindu.”