Rahul Gandhi warns against a coalition with the TRS, claiming that KCR is a “king” who does not listen to the people.
On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ruled out forming a coalition with the ruling TRS in Telangana and launched a stinging attack on its president, K Chandrashekar Rao, calling him a “king” who did not listen to the people’s voice.
At the “Rythu Sangharshana Sabha,” a farmers’ rally held to highlight their plight, Gandhi urged people to vote for the Congress, promising that farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh would be waived and farmers would receive the correct MSP (minimum support price) for their crops as soon as the party’s government is formed.
He also announced the party’s “Warangal Declaration,” which includes farm loan forgiveness, Rs 15,000 per acre compensation for farmers instead of the TRS’s Rs 10,000, procurement of all crops at a higher MSP, and the opening of all sugar mills.
Every line of the declaration, he claimed, represents the Congress party’s commitment to farmers, whom he described as the state’s foundation.
In an apparent dig at Rao, he stated that while the idea of Telangana’s progress has yet to be realized, only one family has “reaped enormous benefits” since the state was split out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
Telangana now has a chief minister, but he is not a chief minister, but rather a ‘Raja’ (king) who does not listen to anyone but himself. A chief minister makes decisions after hearing from the public, while a king is unconcerned about democracy and does as he pleases. To thunderous acclaim, he told the massive gathering.
He stated that the Congress would have no dealings with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the future and that the assembly elections next year would be a direct contest between the Congress and the KCR-led party.
Gandhi stated that any Congress member who wants to work with the TRS could join that party or the BJP. He further said that the BJP wants the TRS government to remain in power in Telangana so that they may exercise “remote control” over the state.
He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and KCR had a deal, which is why central agencies like the CBI and the ED aren’t going after him despite the state’s corruption.
Gandhi remarked flatly, “The Congress will have no understanding with the person who shattered Telangana’s dream, deceived it, and stole thousands and crores of rupees from the youth and underprivileged.”
He further stated that Congress was aware of the political consequences of standing with the people of Telangana to create a new state in 2014.
People in Telangana expected a government for the poor to be formed, but this did not happen, and instead of a chief minister, the state now has a “king,” he claimed.
Gandhi claimed that KCR was listening to his 2-3 “crony capitalist cronies” rather than farmers. “No one will ever forgive the person who shattered Telangana’s dream and robbed farmers, the poor, and laborers of lakhs of crores of rupees,” he said.
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