BJP lacks vision: KCR

Khammam: "Seventy-five years after Independence, India has lost its vision and is drifting away from reality. The country is in a pathetic situation where it is not able to utilize the natural resources to optimal level. The country is ridden with blame-game and is fast moving towards privatization which, if not checked, can prove to be highly dangerous for the future generations."

This was in short the message of BRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at the mega public meeting held at Khammam on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by a host of Opposition leaders and Chief Ministers like Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, Aravind Kejriwal of Delhi, Bhagwant Singh Mann of Punjab, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and CPI general secretary D Raja.

KCR said the country has abundant natural resources and there would be no need to borrow from the World Bank or import pulses from the US or eat pizzas and burgers.

Listing out the priorities of the BRS party, KCR said if it comes to power along with other Opposition parties, it will reverse many of the decisions taken by the BJP government. "The BJP government believes in socialising losses and privatising profits. This will not be allowed," he said. "Modi says government has no business to be in business, but the Opposition will follow the principle that it has every business to be in business," he said.

Calling upon the people to vote for the BRS and bring it to power, KCR assured the employees of all public sector undertakings that even if the Modi government privatizes the PSUs, they would take them back. Among the major announcements made by the BRS chief were to cancel the Agniveer concept and restore the old system of recruitment in the Army, implementing Dalit Bandhu to 25 lakh people per year, 35% reservation for women in the elected bodies, providing tap connections to all households in five years, free power to farmers and make the country power-cut-free in two years. He also said that power sector will remain in the public sector and will promote the IT sector in a big way. He added that achieving this was not a problem provided one has vision and proper direction. The present government has lost both vision and direction. It is regrettable that the Centre does not clear projects for decades depriving the people from getting water for drinking and irrigation purposes. The present government has no knowledge of governance. Both the BJP and Congress keep blaming each other and both are responsible for the present suffering of the people, he said.

KCR said BRS had taken birth to get the country rid of the BJP government.

Sops for Khammam

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao showered sops on Khammam during the first BRS meeting in the city. He announced setting up of a new engineering college to be affiliated to JNTU. Among other sops were grant of Rs 10 lakh special fund each to all 589 gram panchayats, Rs 10 crore special funds to big panchayats, Rs 50 crore CM special fund to Khammam municipality and Rs 30 crore fund each to small municipalities