Regional parties will rule centre: CM KCR

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao put the former on notice, stating that latest reports emanating from New Delhi indicated that the BJP would not cross 150 seats in the Lok Sabha elections while the Congress may just about manage to touch the three digit mark.

“I received quite a few calls from Delhi today, some of them from journalists, who said the political situation as of today clearly indicated that BJP and Congress would not cross the 150 and 100 mark respectively,” the Chief Minister said, addressing a massive public meeting here. “Wait till May 23, and you will see regional parties taking over the reins of the Centre and ruling the country,” he said.

 

Firing salvo after salvo at both the so-called national parties and Modi during his 45-minute address, Rao particularly singled out the Prime Minister stating that the Hindutva practiced by the latter was fake and meant only to garner votes. “The Hindutva we practice is real and is based on bhakti,” he said.

Ridiculing allegations and counter-allegations the BJP and the Congress levelled against each other day in and day out, the Chief Minister said that given the political climate in the country, it was clear that the regional parties would call the shots at the Centre after the general elections. “What is needed is a consortium of regional parties to take charge of the country and put it on the right path of development and progress. The nation needs drastic changes and only the regional parties can deliver that,” he said.

On the surgical strikes of the NDA government that was being highlighted by the BJP, Rao said this was nothing new. “I was a Cabinet Minister in the UPA government and there were 11 surgical strikes then too. These are part of defence strategy and one doesn’t boast of these things in public,” he said, adding that Modi’s claim of killing 300 terrorists in the air



strike was not backed with concrete evidence, while Masood Azhar claims that not even an ant was killed in the attack. “Modi’s focus is only on such issues and he doesn’t utter a word about issues concerning farmers, poverty, leveraging the economy for rapid growth or providing basic amenities to the citizens,” he said.

Constantly cheered by the crowd at every potshot he took against the two parties, Rao said it was appalling that there was no Ministry for Backward Classes at the Centre, when this section of society accounts for 50 per cent of the country’s population. “I have been consistently pursuing this matter both during the UPA rule and now the NDA. I took up the issue with Modi too, pointing out that he himself was a BC person and he should set up a separate Ministry, but it fell on deaf ears,” he said.

He came down heavily on the Prime Minister’s attempts to paint a different picture of the TRS government with claims that people of the State were deprived of several Central schemes particularly Ayushman Bharat. “The Aarogyasri programme that we have is far superior to the Central scheme which is a poor copy of our scheme. Not only does Ayushman Bharat not cover all sections, but is also miserly in handing out medical assistance,” he said, adding: “lf they have the guts, let them come and prove that the Central scheme is better than Aarogyasri.”

“Modi is only peddling a pack of blatant lies. The BJP government has nothing to show for its five year rule of the country. Everything is ‘golmaal’, and he has nothing concrete to show the people of the country. Both BJP and Congress are only capable of indulging in a slandering match,” he said, and wondered what the NDA government had done for farmers, Dalits and BCs in the country. “In any case, they won’t do anything for the minorities,” he added.