KTR: BRS to boycott PM Modi’s Warangal visit

HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President and Telangana IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao has said that the party cadre as well as its ministers, MLAs and other elected representatives will boycott the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Warangal on Saturday.

The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for a wagon repair center and attend a public meeting during his visit. Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan on Friday, KTR alleged that the BJP led Union Government has done injustice to Telangana by shifting the railway coach factory to Gujarat from the State.

“The Prime Minister set up a locomotive factory at Dahod in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore. But despite a promise made under the Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act, a rail coach factory in Kazipet has not been setup. It has now made a meagre allocation of Rs 520 crore for a wagon repair center. The BRS will boycott PM Modi’s programme in Kazipet tomorrow for insulting the people of Telangana,” he said.

KTR added that the Modi government failed to honour other promises made to Telangana like the establishment of the Bayyaram Steel Plant and setting up a tribal university in Warangal despite the State Government acquiring 360 acres for it.

Responding to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President A Revanth Reddy who announced that he would make a series of PowerPoint presentations titled ‘Dharani Files’ to expose corruption of the State Government, KTR said, “To counter the PowerPoint presentation of the Congress, the government will also present how the portal has benefitted the people. Only middlemen who have lost a channel to make money are crying hoarse about Dharani portal.”

The minister also refuted charges that the BRS was going soft on the BJP. “It is the BRS that has continuously targeted the BJP and Prime Minister Modi on their ineffective rule and in fact, it is the Congress that is being soft. Show me how many times Revanth Reddy criticised the BJP. He is a RSS man in the Congress,” KTR retorted.

Crititicising the recent visit of Rahul Gandhi to the state, the minister said, “Rahul Gandhi has no locus standi in announcing schemes for Telangana people. In what capacity he is announcing those schemes? He is not the Congress President nor is he an MP. No one recognises Rahul as a leader.”

KTR also took strong objection to TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to attend the NDA meeting to be organised by the ruling BJP on June 18. In a sarcastic jibe at Naidu, KTR said, “How will Chandrababu Naidu, who insulted Modi four years ago, attend the NDA meeting? Chandrababu should tell what good things Modi has done to Andhra Pradesh in the last four years. He should attend that meeting and tell what good things Modi has done to Andhra and Telangana in the last nine years.”