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Congress will hold caste survey in Telangana: Rahul Gandhi
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has promised to conduct a caste survey in the Telangana region of India if his party is voted into power. Gandhi described the survey as an "X-ray of the country" that will reveal how much wealth the family of Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has allegedly looted from Telangana. Gandhi also accused the ruling BRS government of depriving the poor of their lands and failing to fully implement welfare schemes.
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Hyderabad: Describing the caste survey as an X-ray of the country, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised to conduct the exercise in Telangana once his party is voted to power.
Addressing a massive turnout in Bhupalpally district on the second day of his yatra in poll-bound Telangana, Gandhi said the caste survey will reveal how much Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s family has looted Telangana.
“Nobody knows where the country’s wealth is going as the poorer sections remain poor. Only a caste survey can reveal the status of various sections of people. It is like an X-ray for the country, as it reveals the percentage of backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities, enabling equitable budget allocation,” he said, pressing the need for a caste survey in the country.
Saying that the process to conduct caste surveys has already begun in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka, the Congress MP said: “We shall do the same in Telangana, soon after coming to power in the coming elections. The caste survey will show the financial status of the people of the state and how much the family of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has looted.”
Launching an attack on KCR’s family, Gandhi said: “Only family prospered in the last nine years (since the formation of Telangana in 2014).”
At the Peddapalli rally, the Congress leader described KCR as a liar and cheater and what was being witnessed now was the fight between the people’s Telangana and looters’ Telangana. “The Kaleshwaram project is a big scam where thousands of crores of rupees were looted. The lands of the poor people were usurped. Only contractors got benefitted, as farmers continued to suffer,” he said.
He also accused the BRS government of depriving the poor of their lands by introducing Dharani portal for land registrations. “The Rythu Bandhu scheme benefitted only rich farmers. Schemes like loan waiver and double bedroom housing were not fully implemented,” he alleged.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi went to the coal mines at Ramagundam and interacted with coal mine workers at a residence in Ladanapur village for 20 minutes.
He assured that if the Congress-led coalition is voted to power at the centre, it would now allow privatisation of Singareni Collieries. He also vowed to grant income tax exemptions to Singareni workers and support the growth of the Singareni mines.
BRS working president and state industries minister K T Rama Rao took to X (formerly twitter) to take a dig at Rahul Gandhi, stating that the latter’s bus yatra was bound to fail.
He demanded that Gandhi should explain why he had remained silent when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre had failed to fulfil its promises made before 2014 like establishment of tribal university all these days and steel plant at Bayyaram in Khammam district.
“Gandhi, who refrained from questioning the NDA government on promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, had no right to visit Telangana,” he said.
KTR claimed that there was a huge difference between the development witnessed in Telangana and that in the Congress-ruled states like Karnataka. “The Congress government in Karnataka has not been able to provide even five hours of electricity to farmers, while in Telangana, our government is supplying uninterrupted free electricity to farmers round the clock,” he said.
He ridiculed that the Congress leaders who were synonymous with corruption, were making wild allegations against the KCR government.
The BRS working president also dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the BRS and stated that remote control of the Telangana government was firmly in the hands of the people, while the Congress’s Gandhi Bhavan was slipping away.
