KCR urges Centre to stop operation Kagar against Maoists

Hyderabad, April 27 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) on Sunday urged the BJP-led government at the Centre to stop its operation Kagar against Maoists and call them for peace talks.

Referring to the massive operation by security forces against the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Chhattisgarh, he said the massacre was not right.

He was addressing a mammoth public meeting at Elkathurthy in Hanamkonda district to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the BRS.

KCR, as the former chief minister is popularly known, alleged that tribals and youth in Chhattisgarh were being killed in the name of Operation Kagar.

Asking the Centre to stop the killings, he said the Maoists called for peace talks, and the Centre should listen to what they had to say

“It’s not right to go on a killing spree just because you have the forces,” he said.

Addressing the first public meeting in many months, KCR launched a scathing attack on the Congress government in the state over its ‘unfulfilled promises’ and ‘failures’.

KCR, who was the chief minister for nearly a decade after the formation of Telangana state, alleged that the 2014 situation had returned as the Congress government has undone all the good works of the BRS.

KCR, who had floated TRS (now BRS) in 2001 to revive the Telangana movement, recalled how the party achieved the goal of a separate Telangana state.

He termed the Congress party as ‘villain number one’ of Telangana. He said it was Jawaharlal Nehru who forcibly merged Telangana with Andhra in 1956, and it was again the Congress party which suppressed the Telangana movement of 1969. He alleged that Congress played gimmicks to deny statehood to Telangana after making an announcement in 2009 and claimed that a mass movement finally achieved the goal.

“Then, now and always, Congress remains the villain number one of Telangana,” he said.

The former chief minister remarked that no one can compete with the Congress in terms of ‘golmaal’ and making false promises.

The BRS chief made it clear that BRS will not topple the Congress government. “People will teach them a befitting lesson,” he said an exuded confidence that BRS will return to power.

He claimed that under the BRS rule, Telangana evolved as a progressive state with all-round development. The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) topped national records, and Telangana’s per capita income jumped to Rs 3.5 lakh.

KCR said Kaleshwaram and many other irrigation projects transformed vast tracts of arid land into productive farmland. As a result of these efforts, Telangana now produces 3.5 crore tonnes of paddy annually.

The BRS chief also explained how Rythu Bandhu, the crop investment support scheme, helped farmers. He also spoke about other schemes like a 24-hour free power supply to farmers, Mission Bhagiratha for drinking water supply to every household.

He said the Congress party made many promises during the elections, but failed to fulfil them. “Fake Gandhis came from Delhi to make many promises. We were giving Rs 2,000 pension, they said Congress will give Rs 4,000. We were giving Rs 10,000 under Rythu Bandhu, but they promised Rs 15,000. They also promised scooties to girl students, waiver of crop loans of up to Rs.2 lakh with one signature and a tola gold along with Rs.1 lakh under Kalayana Lakshmi scheme. The pension has not increased. The farm loan waiver has not been completed. They cheated people with false promises,” he said.

KCR said he was pained to see Telangana in the present situation where the power cuts have returned, farmers losing motors of their pump sets, and water has disappeared. He wanted to know why the land prices have crashed and why paddy is not being procured from farmers.

The BRS chief vowed to continue the fight on behalf of the people of Telangana and reiterated that people will teach the Congress party a lesson for betraying them.

--IANS

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