Will win hands down Congress ready to face early polls: Khuntia

​Hyderabad: All-India Congress Committee general secretary and in-charge of Telangana Congress Rama Chandra Khuntia on Wednesday exuded confidence that his party would win the next elections. In an exclusive interview to The Hans India, Khuntia explained the reasons behind the confidence of the party on winning the polls, the failures of the government and growing strength of the party. 

Khuntia said the Congress was fully geared up to face the elections at any time as it has been strengthened from the booth level. He said the organization setup has been constructed at mandal, bloc and state level. More emphasis was given on strengthening the party in the SC and ST reserved constituencies. He said through the leadership development programme, the party has been strengthened in those areas. He said people from other castes were also involved in the SC and ST constituencies so that they do not feel neglected. 

Khuntia said the entry of important leaders from other parties has strengthened the Congress. Soon some more leaders of other parties including elected representatives would join the Congress. Questioning the rationale behind the Chief Minister’s plans to go for early polls, the Congress leader said the TRS was trying to create panic among the Opposition. He said though the mandate of the people would allow the TRS to be in power till June 2, 2019, the ruling party wants to go to polls eight months early. 

Khuntia said that the Assembly would be dissolved only when there is an emergency and the Telangana Chief Minister chose to take the extreme step to safeguard his own interests. The Assembly would be dissolved when ruling party loses the strength in the Assembly or there is a trouble in the cabinet. It could also be dissolved when unmanageable natural calamities take place.  He wanted to know from the Chief Minister whether he wants to dissolve the Assembly for the people of Telangana. 

He wanted to know as to whether the Assembly would be dissolved as Bangaru Telangana was achieved. 
He said that the Chief Minister has been dissolving the Assembly as his support base was dwindling. The Chief Minister is afraid about the questions from the unemployed youth about the unfulfilled promises on creation of jobs. 
The Chief Minister was also afraid of the questions from the people regarding the implementation of 12 per cent reservations for minorities and enhanced reservations to the STs. The government has given only 2300 double bedroom houses to the beneficiaries so far out of the 2.60 lakh promised. 

Khuntia said the Rythu Bandhu scheme has helped only big farmers as it was not applicable to tenant farmers who form 80 per cent of the cultivators. “While the absentee landlords have taken Rs 8000 of RB scheme and Rs 10,000 as rent from tenant farmers; tenant farmers ended up losing both and also sustained losses,” he said. 

Khuntia said that due to the early polls to the Telangana the state would be deprived of development activities for more than 90 days, 45 days form Assembly polls and 45 days for Parliamentary polls due to code of conduct. He said that if elections are held in Telangana separately the state has to bear all the financial burden of polls. If the polls are held simultaneously the Centre and the state would share in 50:50 proportion. 

He alleged that the ruling party is conspiring to deny new voters their right to vote. He said if the electoral rolls are published as per the schedule about 21 lakh new voters would vote. But if September is taken as cutoff date for electoral rolls they would lose the opportunity to vote. 

The executive committee of the PCC would meet on September 7 and would finalise the campaign strategy, he said. The committee would prepare an action plan for the elections. He said the selection of candidates would begin soon, election committee and other poll related committees would be formed soon. He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi would visit the state and several public meetings with his participation have been planned. 

He said the TRS was hand in glove with the BJP as it wants to go for early polls. He explained that if polls are held in advance and if the TRS wins it could dump the minorities in Parliament elections and could support the BJP. Referring to a comment made by Industries Minister KT Rama Rao that the Congress did not ask for special category status to Telangana, Khuntia wanted to know why TRS has abstained from the discussion on SCS to Andhra Pradesh. Its MPs could have participated in the discussion and demanded SCS for Telangana. 

He alleged that Chief Minister Chandrasekhara Rao has planned the Federal Front to divide the Opposition. In the guise of a Front he has been acting as a tool in the hands of the BJP. Khuntia alleged that the TRS government has made Telangana a debt-ridden state from surplus budget state. About Rs 2 lakh crore debt is placed on the people of Telangana in the form of debts. Though the government borrowed so much money it did not complete even one project. 

The government had denied the democratic rights of people to express their dissent as it has banned the Dharna Chowk and has been withholding permission to rallies and protests though the Chief Minister states that he has a background of movements. 

He said the Congress lost in the previous election as there was a confusion among the people about the party. As there was a leader of Andhra as Chief Minister at the time of bifurcation, the Telangana people got confused and voted for the TRS. 

This time the situation has changed a lot and the people have realized that it was the Congress which ensured statehood to Telangana and it was Sonia Gandhi who played key role in that. He said it was not KCR alone who fought for Telangana. Channa Reddy started the movement four decades ago. The parties like CPI, CPM, CPM-ML, joint action committees and plethora of other organizations have fought for the state. As many as 1200 students have sacrificed their lives. 

He said the TRS was shaken with the success of Bus Yatra and this was the reason why KCR wanted to go for the early elections. TRS leaders say that they have become ministers as they have fought for the statehood. In that case what about the families of the martyrs, Khuntia wanted to know. 

He said that as many as 4800 farmers have committed suicides, the government announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to them after the Pada Yatra of Rahul Gandhi in 2016 and no family of the deceased farmers were given the money. In Karnataka, the government has been giving Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 as pension to the families of deceased farmers. 

Speaking on the factional feuds in the party, Khuntia said that they were natural to a party like the Congress which is a big one. A few leaders want to grow, and this leads to differences, he said. Would Harish Rao accept KT Rama Rao as Chief Minister, he asked. Even the ruling party was also plagued with factional feuds. He made it clear that the party would fight the election as one under the dynamic leadership of Rahul Gandhi. 

He pointed out that wherever there are disputes among the Congress leaders, the TRS was weak. In South Telangana, it could not win at least one seat. Several leaders like Revanth Reddy, Nagam Janardhan Reddy and others joined the party. Soon, a key leader and advocate Madhusudan Reddy along with several important leaders would join the party. 

As far as the party’s poor performance in north Telangana was concerned, he made it clear that the Congress would be the only alternative to the people as Telugu Desam and YSR Congress vanished from the state. He said the BJP was nowhere near to coming to power. As people were fed up with the ruling party they would vote for the Congress. 

Khuntia said the Congress would win 50 per cent of the seats in north Telangana. Replying to a question on his allegations on one family rule in Telangana, Khuntia said the government had failed to address any issue of the state and it has been helpful to the KCR family. 

He said while Odisha got Rs 4 lakh crore investments, Telangana failed in that regard. He said the infrastructure in Hyderabad was severely damaged. The government had failed to fill about 1.5 lakh vacancies in government departments.