JOIN USPeople of Telangana need 'double engine growth': PM Narendra Modi
Setting the tone for the Telangana elections Assembly next year, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the state, especially its youth, need a “double engine sarkar”, to fulfill their appetite for faster growth.
“All round development of Telangana is our top priority,” Modi said at the Vijay Sankalp Sabha, the name presenting the BJP ambitions of winning the second big state in the south.
Telangana assembly elections are due in December 2023, but the opposition suspects that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao could call for early polls.
In his around 25 minute address to a huge gathering of BJP supporters in Secunderabad, PM Modi listed the support his government has extended to the Telangana state and the TRS government the last eight years.
Modi read out a list of funds, projects - doubling the national highway length, 180 KM of new railway line, Rs 1,500 crore for Hyderabad's flyovers, elevated corridors, revival of Ramagundam fertiliser plant and so on, which he said has helped Telangana pace ahead on the growth path.
The Prime Minister's presentation is an apparent attempt at silencing the constant criticism he is facing from CM Rao and other TRS leaders like IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao.
“What did the BJP government do for Telangana till now? Not even a Navodaya School was sanctioned,” KTR attacked the Modi led Centre last week. CM Rao's son even accused Modi of diverting Telangana's revenue contribution to the nation to the benefit of BJP ruled states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh.
Ahead of the BJP's national executive meeting in the city, the TRS raised the political heat further with the “Bye Bye Modi” banners. On Saturday, while speaking in support of Yashwant Sinha as the opposition’s Presidential poll candidate, Rao accused the PM of selling off the nation's assets and “becoming a salesman for his businessmen friends.” The CM also dared Modi to answer his questions while in Hyderabad, including those on his alleged involvement in award of a Sri Lankan power project to a private company and misuse of the constitutional bodies.
Modi was expected to hit back at KCR's family rule, alleged massive corruption and stimulate the TBJP leaders and cadres. However, Modi chose to dwell on what his government further plans to do for the state, even as the TRS is in power and after the BJP take-over.
Modi said that the Centre is supporting the regional ring road project, developing a mega textile park in Telangana and planning a science city also here.
The PM had however made a scathing attack on the KCR family rule when he was in Hyderabad in May, the second occasion the Telangana CM snubbed him by not receiving him at the airport.
“Dynastic politics, pariwarwaad families are not just a political problem but pose a great threat to our democracy, aspirations of the country's youth,” Modi had said.
At the Sunday rally, the PM observed that the Telangana voter's endorsement of BJP has been on steady rise from 2019 elections onwards and cited the 2020 GHMC poll results.
While mentioning Telangana's “rich art, history, culture, heritage, a matter of nation pride,” the PM invoked great leaders of the region from the Kakatiya king Prataparudra to 20th century tribal leader Komuram Bheem, religious places like Yadadri, Bhadrachalam, Jogulamba.