Is privatising RTC the only agenda of govt, asks BJP

Serilingampally: State BJP Executive Committee member Jnanendra Prasad on Sunday questioned Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao whether privatising RTC was his only agenda.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Miyapur Joint Action committee (JAC) to instill confidence among the striking RTC employees, he alleged that KCR appeared to terrorise the employees with the threat of scrapping RTC and implement his agenda, while blaming opposition for the plight of RTC staff.

"The CM's message at his press conference was meant to threaten the employees. He tried to mislead both the workers and the people by declaring that there was no RTC board when the High Court was hearing the case," he stated.

Prasad said that APSRTC was in the Ninth Schedule of the AP State Bifurcation Act and that till date there was no division of its assets and loans. "Hence, when the APSRTC was merged with the AP government, it means that the RTC in Telangana is also presumed to have been merged." The BJP leader alleged that the government failed to pay dues to the RTC and tried to mislead the HC by fudging figures. And when the court pulled up the government, the CM resorted to threatening the employees with the intent of forcing them to join duty.

'KCR's claim that 5,001 buses had already been privatised, leaving only 5,300 vehicles with the RTC, and his threat to privatise the remaining buses, too, if the employees don't re-join duty by November 5 indicated his dictatorial mindset.

None need fear his threats," Prasad said and assured the employees: "If you have trust in the court, wait for its ruling." He also questioned KCR why he was comparing RTC with those in Bihar, MP and WB when he should in fact refer to the corporations in Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN and AP.

The BJP leader recalled KCR's deadline of September 5 and his second deadline of November 5, and advised the employees not to go back on their decision until their problems were solved. He pledged the party's continued support to the strike.

JAC leaders Malla Reddy, Bhaskar, Vinayak Reddy, Rajubabu, Somayya, Guruprasad, Umapathi Reddy, Pandu, Rukmini, Sujata and Ramadevi, besides a large number of RTC workers, attended the meeting.