‘Will ensure Cong returns to power’

Metro India News | Hyderabad

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday said he and state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud would ensure that the party comes back to power after the 2028 assembly polls. He was speaking after unveiling a statue of Sardar Sarvai Papana Goud, a 17-18th century warrior who fought against Mughal rule.

It would be similar to the combination of former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Rao and then state Congress president D Srinivas who led the party to victory in the 2004 and 2009 assembly polls. Reddy urged the support of Goud community members, who were largely part of the audience, for the return of Congress to power.

He announced that the government would provide social security pensions to all eligible toddy-tappers and handloom workers. The government would protect the livelihood of toddy tappers, he said.

He said Wild Date and Palmyra trees will be planted on government lands and also along canal embankments to provide more livelihood opportunity to the toddy tapper community. The state government is already providing a compensation of Rs five lakh in case of accidental death of toddy tappers.

Alleging that the previous BRS government encouraged people to practice their traditional occupations like rearing buffaloes and sheep, stitching footwear and fishing, he said the Congress government encouraged children from these communities to pursue education and become doctors, lawyers, and IAS officers.

While BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao handed over crucial posts to his family members when the party was in power, he has ensured that Congress leaders belonging to backward classes are inducted into the state cabinet, besides other key posts, the CM said. While Rao, also known as KCR, promoted "family justice", he is practising "Social Justice", the chief minister stated.

He alleged that KCR, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao, BRS MLA and KCR's nephew T Harish Rao, and KCR's daughter K Kavitha have built farmhouses in hundreds of acres during the BRS regime. However, the Congress government is constructing seven lakh 'Indiramma' houses for poor.