As next year's poll battle for Telangana heats up, Congress, BJP, and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have already started training guns on each other. In the latest attack on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah taunted him saying he doesn't go to the state secretariat because some Tantrik (occultist) has told him he would lose the upcoming elections if he goes. "You don't need a Tantrik to say that, Telangana's youth will throw you out," he said while addressing a public meeting on the concluding day of the month-long 'Praja Sangrama Yatra' Phase-2 in Telangana in his day-long visit to the state on Saturday.
While calling the KCR-led government "corrupt and useless", he appealed to the audience to give a missed call on a phone number released by the party to express support for state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
The Home Minister pointed to promises made during the creation of the state of Telangana and asked the audience if those were fulfilled. "I want to remind the people of Telangana, that KCR had promised Neelu (water), Nidhulu (funds) and Niyamakalu (jobs). Has any of it been fulfilled? We will fulfil those promises. We will give water, funds and jobs," he said.
Mr Shah also attacked the Chief Minister over farmers' issues, promises to Dalits, OBCs and crucial infrastructure development.
"You promised to waive farmer loans...you promised 2bhk flats...you didn't give..You promised a Rs 50,000 crore for Dalits...You promised 3-acre land to every Dalit...you didn't even give 30 cents," he said.
The senior BJP leader, whose party won two assembly by-polls and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election in the last two years, expressed confidence in the BJP coming to power in the state in the hustings next year and urged the voters to elect the saffron party to usher in a secure and prosperous Telangana.
Continuing his attack on the ruling government, he pointed out that KCR didn't allocate even Rs 100 crore for the welfare of backward classes.
"You had to build four super speciality hospitals in Hyderabad but instead, you spoilt Osmania and Gandhi medical colleges," Mr Shah said.
The Home Minister echoed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's accusation that the state government worked for the benefit of just one man and his family.
He said KCR gave powers to his children and not the elected representatives.
Referring to the TRS poll symbol of a car, Mr Shah charged that its steering is in the hands of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.
"I have been in public life for the last 13 years and have never seen a worse government," he said.
The Home Minister went on to attack the KCR government on a host of issues like paddy procurement, education, and housing. He also accused the state government of fooling the people by renaming projects funded by the Centre and putting his and his son's picture on them.
On the alleged high-handedness against BJP activists, he claimed attempts were on to make Telangana like West Bengal, an apparent reference to the deaths of party workers in the eastern state, for which the BJP blames the ruling TMC there.
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