Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Sunday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah calling him the "king of lies".
A day after Shah addressed a public meeting at Tukkuguda near Hyderabad to mount a scathing attack on TRS government in the state, Rama Rao claimed that his speech was full of lies and half-truths.
KTR, as the TRS leader is popularly known, remarked that Amit Shah should change his name to "badhala badsha (king of lies)".
Making a point-by-point rebuttal, the Telangana minister said despite holding the post of a central minister, Shah uttered blatant lies without any shame. He alleged that Shah tried to portray as truth what is circulated by 'WhatsApp university' but claimed that people of Telangana are politically conscious and know the truth.
KTR claimed that BJP has no strength on the ground in Telangana and pointed out that it suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2014 and 2018 elections. "In 2018 elections, BJP lost deposit in 108 out of the 119 Assembly constituencies," he said.
Taking strong exception to Shah's remark that he had not seen a more incompetent and corrupt government, KTR cited several instances of corruption in BJP-ruled Karnataka.
Terming BJP as a "chillar party" which sells posts, the TRS leader said Karnataka's BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal had stated that the BJP leadership demanded Rs 2,500 crore to make him the Chief Minister.
KTR said contractors in Karnataka and even a Hindu mutt leader claimed that they have to pay 30-40 per cent commission to the government. A contractor, who committed suicide, alleged in the suicide note that harassment by a state minister was driving him to take the extreme step, he noted.
Countering Shah's allegation of incompetence, the TRS leader displayed at the news conference newspaper clippings about the electricity and drinking water shortage in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
KTR also slammed Shah for uttering lies about the funds provided to Telangana by the Centre during the last eight years. He reiterated that while Telangana gave Rs 3.65 lakh crore to Centre in the form of taxes, but the state received only Rs.1.68 lakh crore. He dismissed Shah's claim that the Centre gave Rs 2.52 lakh crore and pointed out that BJP leaders are giving contradictory figures.
On the Union Home Minister's allegation that the TRS pushed Telangana into a debt trap, KTR quoted an RBI report to say that Telangana stands at 23rd position among all states in terms of debts as a ratio to GSDP.
The TRS leader alleged that it was the Modi government which pushed India into a debt trap. "In 2014 when Modi became the Prime Minister, India's outstanding debt was Rs 56 lakh crore and in these eight years, he has increased the debts by another Rs 100 lakh crore. Where did you use this money?" he asked.
KTR said he had posed 27 questions to Amit Shah but instead of replying to any question, he resorted to lies. The TRS leader dismissed Shah's remark that the steering of the TRS is in the hands of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
"Our steering is in our hands but your steering is in the hands of the corporate. The whole country knows the fact of hum do humare do...," said KTR slamming Modi government for selling away public sector undertakings.
On Shah referring to the Nizam in his speech, KTR remarked that perhaps even the descendants of Nizam don't take his name so many times. "We had demanded that Amit Shah speak 'Nijam' (truth) but he spoke about Nizam," he said.
(With inputs from IANS)
