BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao advanced the Telangana Assembly polls as he was afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
Addressing an election meeting in Karimnagar, he said the Assembly elections should have been held in April-May next year along with the Lok Sabha polls but the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief imposed a burden of hundreds of crores on people by going for early polls.
Urging people to give a chance to the BJP in the state, Shah promised that they would make Telangana a developed state like other BJP-ruled states and liberate it from what he called the "clutches of (MIM leader Asaduddin) Owaisi".
He also targeted KCR for not implementing Ayushman Bharat scheme launched by the Centre to provide health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh each to the poor families. He alleged that KCR was afraid that if this scheme implemented, Modi would become more popular.
Shah also slammed the TRS chief for not honouring the promises made in 2014 Assembly elections. "I have a list of 150 promises made by KCR. None of them were fulfilled," he said.
He recalled that KCR went back on his promise to make a Dalit the Chief Minister. "He will not do it even now because Dalits are not on his agenda. His agenda is to make his son or daughter the Chief Minister."
The BJP chief alleged that KCR stopped celebrating Hyderabad Liberation Day due to fear of Owaisi. He promised that if voted to power, the BJP will celebrate the day on a grand scale.
Criticising TRS government's move to provide 12 per cent reservation to minorities, Shah said this would cut into the quotas of OBCs, SCs and STs.
The BJP leader said that the Congress and Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party can't be alternatives to the TRS. He said even if they come to power they will not be able to fight Owaisi.
"Neither KCR nor Rahul Gandhi or Chandrababu Naidu fight Owaisi. Only te BJP can fight against Owaisi," Shah said while repeatedly mentioning the name of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief and Hyderabad MP.
The BJP chief said neither KCR family nor Rahul Gandhi and his party can ensure Telangana's development.
"They are all busy in 'break in India' while the Prime Minister is busy in 'Make in India'," he said.
He claimed that while the BJP was for driving out infiltrators from the country, the Congress, TRS, TDP, Communists and others want them to stay.
Appealing to the people to bring back Modi government to power at the Centre, Shah promised that it would throw out every infiltrator.
Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, BJP's state chief K. Laxman, former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and other leaders also addressed the public meeting.
--IANS
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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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