The political slugfest between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified on Friday with TRS working president K T Rama Rao and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay indulging in a war of words over “injustice” done to the state by the Centre.
Telangana unit president Bandi Sanjay, who launched his second phase of padayatra (foot march) in the name of “Praja Sangrama Yatra” from Alampur town in Jogulamba Gadwal district on Thursday night, alleged that Telangana continued to witness migration of labour from Mahabubnagar district due to neglect of irrigation and lack of employment opportunities to the youth.
The BJP president accused Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of subjecting the farmers to severe hardships for the last four months by refusing to buy paddy and throwing the blame on the Centre.
He claimed that it was because of the BJP’s relentless struggle and constant pressure that KCR came down on knees and agreed to procure paddy. “This is BJP’s victory and the people’s victory,” he said.
Strongly refuting the allegations, KTR, who is also the state minister for industries and IT, said Sanjay’s Praja Sangrama Yatra was nothing but a deception. “Before continuing his yatra, Sanjay should tender an apology to the people of Telangana people for the betrayal, injustice and negligence meted out to them by the BJP government at the Centre,” he said, in an open letter to the state BJP president.
{{/usCountry}}Strongly refuting the allegations, KTR, who is also the state minister for industries and IT, said Sanjay’s Praja Sangrama Yatra was nothing but a deception. “Before continuing his yatra, Sanjay should tender an apology to the people of Telangana people for the betrayal, injustice and negligence meted out to them by the BJP government at the Centre,” he said, in an open letter to the state BJP president.
{{/usCountry}}He said that the fields in erstwhile combined Mahabubnagar district, which were once parched due to acute drought, had now turned into fertile lands, thanks to the speedy completion of irrigation schemes by the TRS government.
“The BJP-led NDA government had set up the Krishna River Management Board to settle the water sharing disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but there has been no development in addressing the issues. This has affected the projects in the district,” he said.
He sought to know why the Central government had ignored the demand for granting national project status for Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, while it granted such a status to Upper Bhadra project in the neighbouring Karnataka. “Sanjay should explain the reasons to the people during the padayatra,” he demanded.
He also pointed out that the Centre had ignored the demand for a new railway line to Mahabubnagar via Nagarkurnool.
“The BJP, which does politics in the name of Lord Sri Rama, should tell the people of Telangana how much money it has brought from the Centre for the development of Ram temple in Bhadradri,” he demanded.
KTR alleged that the BJP leaders had misled the farmers of Telangana by encouraging them to cultivate paddy with the false promise of procurement of the crop by the central government. But, they changed their words and made the farming community suffer, he said.