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Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Monday, February 9, appealed to voters to reject hate politics in the February 11 municipal elections in the state. Addressing a press conference, he launched a scathing attack on the BJP, accusing it of practising divisive politics and stoking communal hatred.
The Chief Minister alleged that the BJP was using leaders of some parties, like AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, as a ‘political scarecrow’ to get votes. He remarked that the BJP is obsessed with Asaduddin Owaisi. “They claim to chant Lord Ram’s name, but every day invoking Asaduddin Owaisi. Their lifeline is Asaduddin Owaisi,” he said.
“AIMIM is also a political party in the democracy. It contested elections in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states. How long are you going to seek votes by projecting them as a ghost?” he asked.
The Congress leader alleged that this is proof of the BJP’s political bankruptcy.
Referring to BJP president Nitin Nabin’s speech at an election rally in Mahabubnagar, the Chief Minister criticised him for seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He recalled that Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, had come to Mahabubnagar for an election campaign and had promised to grant national status to the Palamuru-Rangareddy project. Even after becoming the Prime Minister three times, he failed to fulfil the promise.
CM Revanth Reddy took strong exception to the BJP leaders for chanting Modi slogans during the election campaign. “What does Modi have to do with a local election?” he asked.
He alleged that the BJP, which has been in power for 12 years, did not approve even one project for Telangana, but its leaders are appealing to people to vote for the party by seeing PM Modi.
“They cancelled the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project, which was approved for Telangana. PM Modi put pressure to take away the semiconductor project from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Revanth Reddy also accused the BJP of discrimination against southern states.
He claimed that for every one rupee that Telangana sends in the form of taxes, the Centre is paying it only 42 paise. Karnataka receives 16 paise, Tamil Nadu receives 26 paise, and Kerala gets 49 paise, but Bihar gets Rs 6.16 for every rupee which it gives to the Centre. Madhya Pradesh receives Rs 2.09, and Uttar Pradesh gets Rs 2.90, he said.