Poll-wary KCR showcases State strides

​Hyderabad: The State Formation Day was celebrated with pomp and gaiety on Saturday, but the most talked about part of the celebration was Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s speech. If the speech was any indication, then it looked like the Chief Minister went into election mode and his opponents better watch out.

This is the last Formation Day fete before the next general elections and Rao sought to win the confidence of the people by placing facts and figures of what his government had done in the last four years. At the same time, he left no stone unturned to attack rulers in the combined State including leaders from Telangana for not doing enough for the people and the region.

Rao’s speech was a mix of his administration’s achievements and success combined with criticism of previous governments in the erstwhile State, including different departments like agriculture, irrigation, and housing for poor etc. Towards the end of his 35-minute address, Rao made key observations and said that Telangana, which was created after a prolonged struggle, is marching ahead on progress path. However, some forces are trying in vain to destabilise it by creating obstructions.

“We faced such resistance during statehood struggle and the same situation is continuing after we came to power. However, it had been proved on several occasions that with strong will and commitment one could successfully overcome all obstacles and the TRS government also did the same. We would march ahead into the future with same zeal and ensure that the State becomes ‘Bangaru Telangana’,” Rao stressed.

Chandrashekar Rao came down heavily on the governments in unified Andhra Pradesh while speaking on irrigation projects. He said that the rulers of that time had no seriousness on irrigation sector in Telangana. “The conspiracy would start with finalisation of project site only. Designs were prepared for projects leading to inter-State disputes.

This led to projects being stalled indefinitely and governments of that time blamed the neighbouring State and washed off their hands. Thus, rulers in combined State misled people from Telangana region,” he said. While the governments of that time were not doing enough to protect interests of farmers, elected representatives from Telangana remained mute spectators, which Rao took serious objection to.