TRS slams BJP, Modi govt over economy, black money, farm laws

The BJP talked about creating two crore jobs every year, "depositing Rs 15 lakhs" in bank accounts and bringing back black money, K T Rama Rao said

The ruling TRS working president and Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao on Monday mounted a sharp attack on the BJP and the NDA government at the Centre over its management of economy, the new farm laws and alleged failure to bring back black money.

Speaking at an event where a BJP leader and his supporters joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), he said the national party always created a "gung-ho, but there is no substance in it". He cited the example of 2018 assembly elections when BJP claimed itself to be the alternative to TRS.

But the Telangana people have reposed faith in TRS in election after election, Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said. TRS was ready to prove what the party government had done in the last six years since the formation of the separate state in 2014, he said.

"Telangana people, Telangana state gave Rs 2.72 lakh crore to the Centre in the form of taxes in the last six years. It could be Income Tax, Central Excise, GST or others. Rs 2.72 lakh crore in the last six years. But, how much Telangana has got in six years? Only Rs 1,40,329 crores. It is only taking, but not giving us from Delhi, he said. When that was the reality, BJP leaders spoke as if the Centre had been funding all welfare programmes in the state," he said.

The BJP leaders, however, were not ready to accept when money was seized from their houses, he claimed, referring to unaccounted money allegedly being seized from the relatives of the BJP candidate in Dubbak bypoll to be held on Tuesday.

TRS can speak for hours together on what it had done to the poor, including social security pensions, investment support scheme for farmers, insurance scheme for farmers, he said and asked what was there to say about the contributions of the Narendra Modi government for common people.

The NDA governments demonetisation decision derailed the rapidly growing economy and the Covid-19-induced lockdown added to the adverse impact, he alleged. Even before the outbreak of coronavirus, the country which was growing fast, has slowed down because of the Centre's bankrupt policies, he said.

In GDP, on one hand, elders in Delhi make claims about their chest. But, the reality today is, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have moved ahead of us in GDP. Today, we, such a large country, are in a position of bowing our head down in front of them and the world with a lesser GDP, he said.

The BJP talked about creating two crore jobs every year, "depositing Rs 15 lakhs" in bank accounts and bringing back black money, he said.

The NDA government has not brought back black money but brought in 'black' laws that would "leadto a crisis" in the agriculture sector and break the back of farmers in the name of reforms, he claimed.

Elders had once said Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.But, the kisan (farmer) is in danger today and Jawan is also not safe at the borders, he said. Some were dreaming and trying to foment trouble in the name of religion, he said, asserting religious tolerance was ingrained in Telangana. For the TRS, religion was not a campaign issue and patriotism not for showing off, Rama Rao added.