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Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that the recent defections of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders to the Congress has made his party free of back stabbers. Criticising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's scheduled visit to the state on July 2, Harish asserted that the Congress had failed to empower the tribals and carry out several programmes in the state, during its six-decade-long rule. The Minister made these comments while speaking at the Podu land patta distribution programme for the tribal community held in Khammam on Friday, June 30.
Speaking further on the defections, Minister Harish said, “We are in fact happy they have left the party. It is not a loss to the party. They were anyway sidelined and they had no choice but to leave. We can face them directly now in the elections.” On June 26, a total of 35 BRS leaders, including former minister and five-time MLA Jupally Krishna Rao and former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, joined the Congress party after meeting AICC president Mallikharjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
The Minister commented on Rahul Gandhi’s visit, “Rahul Gandhi will visit Khammam and read a script written by someone. I ask if there is any Congress-governed state performing better than Telangana. Is there any better scheme? Schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bhima, Kalyana Lakshmi and KCR kit are being implemented by the BRS government. Are these implemented in Congress ruled states?”
Minister Harish also said that the schemes introduced by the BRS government will not be implemented if the Congress comes to power in Telangana. “These days, Congress leaders are often saying that they will bring back Congress governance. Who wants such governance in which the state frequently faced power cuts, transformer explosions, and struggled for basic amenities like water? People chose BRS because they did not want the Congress to govern the state. If the Congress party comes to power, these schemes will not be implemented,” he said. The Minister also said that the Telangana government's programmes are being duplicated and rebranded by the Union government.
Harish Rao, along with Minister of Transportation Puvwada Ajay Kumar distributed podu land pattas to 6,589 farmers in the constituencies of Khammam, Satthupalli, Vaira, and Yellandu, covering a total of 13,139.04 acres of land across 77 grama panchayats and nine mandals. Minister Harish promised the recipients that their bank accounts would be credited with the financial aid provided by the Rythu Bandhu scheme (Rs 10,000 per acre annual support for agricultural investment to farmers) within a week of receiving their passbooks.
