The Congress government in Telangana is facing flak from the opposition for splurging public money on issuing advertisements in leading publications in poll-bound Maharashtra.
Ironically, back home, the ruling party has been claiming that the state was reeling under severe debts and that it was struggling to implement welfare and development programmes promised in its election manifesto.
The advertisements are being issued in leading publications across Maharashtra ahead of the assembly elections there, boasting about the fulfilment of different promises made to the people in Telangana.
The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao alleged that over Rs 300 crore from the Telangana exchequer was misused to place advertisements in newspapers of Maharashtra, with false claims of achievements in the State.
“The Congress government does not have funds to implement its electoral promises in Telangana, but has money to conduct a false campaign of fulfilling them for Maharashtra polls,” he said, adding that Rahul Gandhi is spreading lies, claiming that Congress implemented schemes in Telangana, which were never fulfilled.
Speaking to the media in New Delhi on Tuesday, KTR, as the former BRS minister is popularly known, pointed out that key promises made by Congress in Telangana, such as the farmer loan waiver and Rythu Bharosa, remain incomplete. He stated that the claims of Rs 2,500 monthly assistance being paid to women, and enhanced social security pensions to the elderly and others, were blatant lies.
“They talk about people’s welfare, but their priorities lie in siphoning off Telangana’s money to fund their Maharashtra election propaganda,” he added.
He urged the Election Commission to strengthen surveillance on the Telangana-Maharashtra border to prevent the illegal flow of money. He also urged Maharashtra voters to critically examine these claims and verify them with Telangana residents. He suggested that they cast their votes to a regional party that serves the interests of their State. “Congress failed to deliver in Telangana. Why should Maharashtra believe their hollow promises?” he questioned.
Aiming at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s comments on MLA defections, KTR accused Congress of pioneering the culture of political horse-trading. “Congress is crying foul about MLAs being bought like goats, but their party is the original architect of defections,” he said, adding that Telangana’s Congress government lured around 10 opposition MLAs, undermining democratic integrity.
Follow us
