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Targeting one of the traditional voter base of the Congress party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhara Rao on Monday promised to spend Rs 50,000 crore on the welfare and development of the scheduled caste (SCs) population in Telangana over a five-year period if the party won the ensuing elections.
“All the handwork and sacrifices went into achieving separate statehood was not meant to hand over Telangana to the same old faces,” he said, while stating that TRS was seeking the power to do bring change in the lives of downtrodden sections of the society and not for any considerations.
Land to the land-less poor with irrigation facility, a two-bedroom house at a cost of Rs 3 lakh with full subsidy for every weaker sections are among several other welfare measures being incorporated into the election manifesto, he said.
The promise to spend Rs 50,000 crore on SCs comes in the light of a constant criticism faced by the TRS supremo for keeping silent on his original promise of making a ‘Dalit’ the first chief minister of Telangana state. This promise did not find any mention in his speech when he addressed a gathering of people from the neighbouring Nalgonda district who joined the party from other political outfits.
KCR also appealed to the voters of Telangana not to vote for any other party, including the BJP, even in Lok Saba elections. “You should make the election outcome a one-sided affair in favour of TRS both in the Assembly and the Parliament elections. We need all the 17 Lok Sabha seats to get what we want from the Centre,"” he said.
CII delegation meets KCR
Meanwhile, a delegation of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) comprising former president B Ashok Reddy and the newly-elected president Suresh Chittoori presented a road-map for industrial growth to KCR on Monday.
“We have listed out various steps that should be taken for the industrial growth of the new state. Our aim is to impress up on each political party to incorporate these suggestions in their election manifesto,” Ashok Reddy told Business Standard. The delegation also made specific suggestions on energy and education sectors as well, according to him.
KCR reminded of Maoist agenda
A group of organisations led by noted writer Varavara Rao today met with KCR and asked him to work for the release of all the political prisoners besides lifting the ban on Moist organisations when the new government in Telangana was formed. Rao, a strong supporter of the underground naxalite movement, said that KCR had promised to implement the left-wing group’s agenda.
