Parakala/Hyderabad (Telangana), Nov 25 (UNI) Despite his party has not much presence in the state, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday kicked off the election campaign in a big way by criticising the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the opposition Congress party in Telangana, and said only BJP can fulfill the aspirations of the people.
Elections to 119-member Telangana assembly are scheduled to be held on December 7.
In a whirlwind tour in four places in a single day, Mr Shah addressed the first public meeting at noon in Angadi at Parakala in Warangal District.
The BJP president criticised Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) that the latter dissolved the assembly much before its term ended for the sake of political gains for his family.
“The elections in Telangana were supposed to coincide with 2019 Lok Sabha elections of the country. Why the Chief Minister has pushed Telangana into early elections? This was an attempt to establish his family in politics”, Mr Shah said.
He also said that KCR-led government has made the revenue surplus Telangana state into a debt trap of Rs 2 lakh crore and added that fiscal deficit is around five percent which is highest in the country.
Criticising the TRS government and Congress for minority appeasement, Mr Shah said both the parties cannot rule the state free from ‘Majlis’ pressure and added that only BJP can serve the people without any discrimination.
He also took the Telangana government to task for the proposed reservation for the minority community and said that BJP was against reservation on the basis of religion.
“Telangana Chief Minister has proposed 12 per cent reservation for the minorities. Since the Supreme Court has set a ceiling of 50 percent for the reservation, his proposal is unconstitutional. We are against reservation on the basis of religion. We will ensure that this will not happen”, Mr Shah said.
The saffron party president also took on Congress party and said the Narendra Modi-led government has given enough funds for Telangana.
“Congress gave Rs 16,596 crore in the 13th Finance Commission. On the other hand, BJP government gave Rs 1.15 lakh crore to Telangana which is seven times more than what Congress-led UPA gave”, he said.
Earlier in the day, the BJP president paid tributes to Rani Rudrama and King Pratap Rudra in Warangal.
Mr Shah had arrived at Begumpet airport in the morning.
He will address three more public meetings on Sunday that will take place on near Prince High School Grounds in Viswanadhapet in Nirmal, near Anuradha College Grounds in Naryankhed in Sangareddy district and near Venkateswara B Ed College in Dubbaka in Siddipet district, respectively.
Before leaving, Mr Shah will take part in the Kodi Deepostavam in the Hyderabad city at 6 PM.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also address public meetings in various places in Telangana.
UNI KNA SNU 1545