Escalation in war of words after Union Home Minister Amit Shah calls Telangana government ‘inept’ and ‘corrupt’

Published : May 16, 2022 18:09 IST

K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana Minister for Information Technology and Municipal Administration.

K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana Minister for Information Technology and Municipal Administration.

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government inept and corrupt at a public rally in Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad, government Ministers hit back on May 15.

Leading the offensive was K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana Municipal Administration and Information Technology Minister, who called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “Nizam” and a “naalayak [inefficient] Prime Minister” and Amit Shah the “baadshah of lies”.

Stated Rama Rao, who is also the working president of the TRS: “Who is inefficient and who is the Nizam? Isn’t Prime Minister Narendra Modi a Nizam, who said farmers didn’t die for his cause, when 700 lost their lives protesting three black farm laws? Isn’t Modi behaving like Nero, who played the fiddle when Rome burnt? When lakhs of migrant labourers died of hunger and trekked hundreds of miles to reach home during the lockdown, his government charged train fare from them. It was Chandrashekar Rao who paid for their fare and provided food.”

Taking exception to Amit Shah’s statement that the Telangana government was being steered by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi, Rama Rao said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government was being steered by two corporate houses. Said Rama Rao: “It is a case of hum do, hamare do. Do Gujarati bech rahe hai, aur do gujarati khareed rahe hai [Two Gujaratis are selling and two Gujaratis are buying].”

Accusing Amit Shah of lying through his teeth, Rama Rao predicted that the voters would soon vote the Union government out of power. He added that the TRS and Chandrashekar Rao were in no hurry to call for early elections to the State Legislative Assembly. Stating that the Chief Minister had already announced that elections to the State’s Assembly would be held as scheduled in 2023, Rama Rao said the pink party was ready for early elections to the Lok Sabha if the BJP had the courage to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections.

Continuing with his attack on Modi and Shah, Rama Rao said: “Telangana’s single-engine growth model will bury the double-engine government of BJP. People are suffering from all-time high inflation in 30 years and soaring unemployment graph in 40 years. BJP leaders are crying foul over a 50-paise power tariff hike in the State when the Modi government is raising diesel, petrol and gas prices every day and has collected 26.5 lakh crore towards cess on diesel and petrol in the last eight years.”

Not to be outdone, T. Harish Rao, the Chief Minister’s nephew and Telangana Finance and Health minister, labelled the Union Home Minister as the “Shah of lies” and described the BJP as the “Bada Jhoota Party”. He accused Amit Shah of trying to mislead the people of Telangana with lies.

Harish Rao, who brandished facts and figures to counter Amit Shah’s statements, refuted the latter’s claim that the Union government had granted funds to Telangana’s ‘Mission Bhagiratha’ (a programme to provide drinking water to every household).

Alleging that the BJP had done nothing for the people of Telangana during the last eight years, E. Dayakar Rao, Minister for Panchayat Raj said there wasn’t a shred of truth in Amit Shah’s claims on the sanctioning of Sainik Schools, a rail coach factory and medical colleges to Telangana.

The BJP is desperate to dislodge Chandrashekar Rao who will be seeking his third straight term in office.

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