BRS Party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao participates in Praja Ashirvada Sabha at Peddapalli in Karimnagar district on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: PTI
Mounting a scathing attack on the Congress party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao alleged that the Congress party had defeated Dr B R Ambedkar, the visionary leader and the champion of the cause of Dalits, in Parliamentary elections in 1950s.
Despite ruling the country for decades, the Congress party had failed to implement any concrete programmes to uplift Dalits and adhere to Dr Ambedkar’s ideology, Mr Rao flayed while addressing an election meeting held in Mandamarri town of Chennuru Assembly constituency on Tuesday. He said the BRS demonstrated its commitment to the cause of Dalits by implementing the landmark Dalit Bandhu scheme for the socio-economic empowerment of Dalits. We have named our new Secretariat after Dr Ambedkar and installed a 125-ft tall statue of the great national leader to draw inspiration from his values and ideals, he said.
The successive Congress governments have neglected the plight of Dalits, who faced exploitation and discrimination for centuries, he charged.
The Dalit Bandhu scheme is transforming the lives of Dalit families by empowering them economically and socially, he said, asserting that the BRS is committed to ensure that every Dalit family is covered under the Dalit Bandhu scheme.
Taking on the Congress party, Mr Rao alleged that the then Congress government was responsible for giving 49% stakes in the Nizam era’s Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) to the Centre due to its incompetence to repay the loans.
From a dismal condition during the successive Congress regimes, the SCCL made a remarkable turnaround since the formation of Telangana. Driven by the pragmatic policies and strategies, the SCCL is treading the growth path, Mr Rao said.
He added that the SCCL’s profits increased from ₹419 crore in 2014 to ₹2,184 crore during 2022-2023. The Dasara bonus of ₹700 crore was already paid from the share of profits to the SCCL workers and Deepavali bonus will be paid soon. This amounts to payment of a total bonus (Dasara and Deepavali) of about ₹1,000 crore this year.
He slammed the Narendra Modi-led BJP dispensation at the Centre for ‘unleashing’ a privatisation drive to hand over the national assets to private players. Similar attempts to privatise the coal blocks here were foiled by our party functionaries through agitations in the recent past, he added.
Addressing an election meeting in Manthani of Peddapalli district later in the day, the BRS supremo called upon people to elect the party candidate Putta Madhu in the November 30 Assembly elections to promote “empowerment of BCs.”
Mr Rao, in his speech at a public meeting held in Peddapalli town on Tuesday evening, accused the Congress party of trying to hoodwink people by making “false promises.”
The Congress party has earned notoriety for callous apathy towards Telangana during its long rule in the erstwhile United Andhra Pradesh, he charged, asserting that the BRS government had implemented pioneering schemes for the welfare of farmers, Dalits and weaker sections in the last nine-and-half years.
