Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was hoping to win elections without doing anything, just like the Congress, ANI reported. The prime minister was speaking at a rally in Nizamabad city ahead of the December 7 Assembly elections.
“He thinks that if the Congress can win elections without doing anything, he too can do it,” Modi said. “But he must know that youth of the state are aware of the ground realities.” Modi claimed that Rao had promised to transform Nizamabad into London. “But look at the condition of this region. The region lacks development,” Modi added.
The prime minister said both the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi believe in dynastic politics. “They are two sides of same coin,” he said. “Both parties appease the minority, both parties believe in vote bank politics, neither have internal democracy.”
Modi claimed Rao had completed his political apprenticeship in the Congress and has managed to destroy Telangana. “Now, if those who have done PhD come to power, they will do 100 times more destruction,” he added, referring to the Congress.
He accused the TRS chief of not joining the Ayushman Bharat health scheme – under which the Centre will bear the annual medical expenses of poor people up to Rs 5 lakh – because he was insecure, PTI reported.
“This chief minister feels so insecure...he trusts astrologers, does puja, ties nimbu-mirchi,” the prime minister said. “So when we introduced Ayushman Bharat Yojana, he decided not to join it. He feared people will reject him if Modicare comes into force. He did injustice to the poor people of the state.”
Modi said the BJP believes in inclusive growth and is against vote bank politics. “BJP has just just one mantra – Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,” he added. “We believe in inclusive growth. Vote bank politics has damaged development like termite.”
The prime minister said that after five years of the TRS government, people in the state do not have access to drinking water. “He [Rao] said that if I am not able to provide the water to every household I will not come to seek votes,” Modi added.
On November 23, Rao had said that Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party were afflicted with a “disease” that causes “communal madness”. He had also blamed the Centre for keeping on hold the state Assembly’s decision to raise reservations for Muslims in state government jobs and educational institutions from 4% to 12% and the quota for Scheduled Tribes from 6% to 10%.
India has paid the price for dynastic politics: Jaitley
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley criticised the Congress for talking about Modi’s parents during election campaigns. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar sparked a controversy on November 23 by comparing the decline in the value of the rupee to the age of Modi’s mother.
“His father’s anonymity was commented upon as an inadequate credential of the prime minister,” Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post titled What was the Name of Sardar Patel’s Father. “Merit, talent, ability to inspire and lead would not be a virtue. The Congress considers only a great surname as a political brand.”
The minister said that the reason a lot of people do not know the names of Patel or Mahatma Gandhi’s fathers is because of the Congress’ policy of promoting only the Nehru-Gandhi family.
“Decades of Congress rule, naming colonies, localities, cities, bridges, airports, railway stations, schools, colleges, universities, stadiums after one family was intended to declare the ‘Gandhis’ as India’s royalty,” Jaitley wrote. “They were ‘officially glamorised’ as the blue blooded family of India.”
Jaitley said the country has paid the price for dynastic politics. “Three families – two of them in Srinagar and one in New Delhi in the last 71 years – have played with the destiny of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added. “The consequences are obvious. Following the dynastic pattern of leadership within the Congress, several other parties have followed the same principle. In such organisations there is no inner party democracy, there are no ideological principles.”
Taking on former ally and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who has aligned with the Congress, Jaitley pointed out that NT Rama Rao, who founded Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, had created an alternative to the Congress. “Gradually the party went into a control of the present chief minister, who is willing to switch sides in every general election,” the Union minister wrote. “There is no second line of leadership and the option offered is of ‘a coalition of rivals’.”
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!