Telangana caretaker IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday lashed out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi and asked the party to first get its facts right, before it criticised the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state.
Asking Rahul Gandhi to read history before speaking publicly, KTR told reporters at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday evening that the Congress President only spoke half-truths and lies.
“Congress is an old fox which is trying to re-establish itself in Telangana state. But Rahul Gandhi appears to have read out the Telangana Congress’ script rather than checking basic facts before speaking in public,” he was quoted as saying.
Rahul Gandhi kicked off his party's election campaign in Telangana by targeting both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao by accusing them both of indulging in corruption.
Promising to build 'new Telangana', he addressed a massive public meeting at Bhainsa town in Adilabad district, where he told people that five years were wasted as Chief Minister Rao shattered the dreams of the new state.
Gandhi said it was only KCR's family which "cornered" all the benefits. He said only Congress could build a Telangana which is free from corruption and farmers' suicides.
On his first visit to Telangana after the announcement of the poll schedule, Gandhi later addressed public meetings in Kamareddy and Hyderabad later in the day.
He also alleged that KCR insulted B.R. Ambedkar by changing the name of an irrigation project in the state to Kaleshwaram. He claimed that KCR was resorting to corruption in irrigation projects by redesigning them to benefit his family and friends.
"This project was named after Ambedkar and was to be built at a cost of Rs 38,000 crore but KCR has revised the cost to Rs 1 lakh crore. Other irrigation projects were also redesigned to hike their cost," he said.
However, KTR denied both the allegations and asked Gandhi to check his facts.
Pointing out that there had been no incidents of communal violence in old city after the TRS took, KTR also accused the Congress of instigating riots in the past, stating that the party only looked at minorities as 'vote banks'.
The Telangana Minister also said that the people of the state would not fall for 'such circus feats' by Congress leaders.
IANS Inputs