Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi conduct a caste census, along with the population census that is scheduled to commence from January next year, an official statement from the Congress said on Saturday.
Revanth Reddy was in Mumbai on Saturday morning to take part in the ongoing Congress campaign for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. He took part in the meeting that was held by the Maharashtra Congress leaders to discuss the election campaign strategy, people familiar with the matter said.
Addressing a press conference later, Revanth Reddy pointed out that his government has commenced a comprehensive caste survey in Telangana. “My government has passed a resolution in the cabinet demanding that the NDA government at the Centre take up caste census across the country,” he said.
He added that Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, too, has been reiterating the demand for a nationwide caste census on various platforms. “Let the Centre incorporate caste census as part of national population census starting in January,” he said.
The chief minister said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Maharashtra have been spreading canards against the Congress government in Telangana that it has failed to implement the six guarantees promised to people before the elections.
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Maharashtra have been spreading canards against the Congress government in Telangana that it has failed to implement the six guarantees promised to people before the elections.
{{/usCountry}}“Even the Prime Minister has been telling lies to people about the implementation of the guarantees announced by the Congress in Telangana. We will continue to tell the truth until Modi stopped spreading lies. That is the reason why I came to Maharashtra to apprise people of the truth about the implementation of the six guarantees in Telangana,” he said.
Revanth Reddy recalled that the Congress promised a waiver of farm loan up to ₹2 lakh in his state. “Within nine months, we have waived farm loans to the extent of ₹17,869 crore by relieving 2.23 million farmers from debt burden in a span of 25 days. My government is ready to furnish the details of the implementation of the farm loan waiver scheme if anyone wants,” he said.
He added that when he gave a befitting reply to Modi’s criticism on farmers’ issue, the latter deleted his tweet on Telangana.
The chief minister also claimed that his government filled up 50,000 vacancies within 10 months of the Congress coming to power, distributed cooking gas cylinders at ₹500 under Mahalakshmi scheme and provided free domestic power supply to 5 million households consuming less than 200 units.
“We are also providing a bonus of ₹500 on the minimum support price of paddy and have implemented free bus ride for women,” he said.
Stating that Maharashtra was lagging in terms of farmers’ welfare compared to Telangana, Revanth Reddy alleged that the highest number of farmers’ suicides have been reported in Maharashtra, as both the state and central governments neglected farmers’ welfare.
“Maharashtra attained a special place in the history of the country. The land of Maharashtra gave birth to many great and popular leaders, including Dr BR Ambedkar, Bala Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule, who changed the destiny of the country, inspired people and showed the way for the country,” he said.
Referring to the ongoing election campaign in Maharashtra, Revanth Reddy said Modi promised nothing new to inform the people of Maharashtra during the campaign. “As he has no success story related to Maharashtra, he is blaming the Opposition parties,” Revanth Reddy said.