As Assembly elections are nearing, Telangana Congress leaders are planning protests state-wide despite series of arrests by the police on Thursday to prevent them. The BJP, on the other hand, is busy with its mass-contact programme, while the ruling BRS is on a fast-track completing the projects in all districts.
The police placed prominent Congress leaders under house arrest to stop their 'Dashabdi Dhagaa' (a decade of deceit) that called for protests across the state including senior leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir.
The Congress party strongly condemned the house arrests and Revanth Reddy, President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), denounced the arrest of Congress leaders as undemocratic. He claimed that the ruling party was using public funds to conduct a campaign under the pretext of state formation day celebrations.
According to Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister KCR provided no support to the families of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Telangana. He accused the KCR family of disregarding the aspirations of the martyrs and exploiting the state of Telangana for their own benefit.
The Congress had urged its supporters to burn effigies representing CM KCR, likening him to Dashanana Ravanasura with ten heads, each symbolizing a broken electoral promise such as the KG-to-PG free education scheme, fee reimbursement, unemployment allowance, employment for every household, 2BHK housing, 3 acres for Dalits, podu land pattas, loan waivers, employment opportunities, 12% reservation for minorities, and 12% reservation for STs.
BJP busy with Jan Sampark
On the other side, the BJP in Telangana on Thursday launched a mass contact programme to reach out to 35 lakh households across the state in a single day with state party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar launching 'Intintiki BJP' (BJP to every household) programme in Karimnagar.
As part of the party's "Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyaan" to explain the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in the last nine years, all BJP functionaries from booth level to the state president will be reaching out to 35 lakh families.
Sanjay told media persons in Karimnagar that the programme started Thursday morning and claimed that in the first two hours, 10 lakh households were already covered. He was also seen pasting BJP stickers at the entrances of the houses.
Every booth level BJP leader has been asked to reach out to at least 100 households during the day. The party leaders have been asked to advise people to dial 90909024 and give a missed call as a token of acknowledgment.
KCR takes centre-stage
The ruling BRS, on the other hand, is busy inaugurating the completed buildings and offices in all the disttricts ahead of the Assembly elections. On the final day of the celebrations, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is scheduled to inaugurate the Telangana Martyrs' Memorial 'Amara Deepam' located in front of the state Secretariat, along the banks of Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.
The martyrs event has been ridiculed by both Congress and BJP as eye-wash with no concrete help coming in the way of those who sacrificed their lives before the Telangana formation.
Congress leader Revanth Reddy alleged that Chief Minister KCR extended no help to the families of the martyrs who laid down their lives for Telangana. He said that the KCR family undermined the aspirations of the martyrs and looted the state of Telangana as its own fiefdom.
The Congress Party will continue to fight on behalf of the people of Telangana until their exploitation is stopped and the aspirations of the immortals are fulfilled, reads a tweet from official handle of TPCC.
The BJP has alleged that KCR was raking up Telangana sentiment for electoral gains.
(With inputs from IANS)
