Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday appealed to the people of Telangana to give more than 12 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections, promising to liberate the state from the “shadows of Nizam” after 75 years.
Amit Shah alleged that the Congress and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) followed the agenda of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), adding that the two parties can’t liberate Telangana from the influence of Majlis and Nizam.
The senior BJP leader was addressing polling booth presidents of the BJP at the LB Stadium here as part of the party’s preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In 2019, the BJP had bagged four out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the southern state.
Amit Shah said that when the people of Telangana gave a mandate to the Congress, they thought the influence of Majlis may come to an end, but when the Assembly session began, the Congress government went out of the way and threw all norms to the winds, as it made a Majlis leader the interim Speaker.
“With this, the Congress started prostrating before them,” he remarked.
He also alleged that both the Congress and the BRS can’t celebrate Hyderabad Liberation Day and honour Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, as they are afraid of its vote bank.
The Home Minister claimed that the BJP is not afraid of vote bank, as it is dedicated to Telangana’s welfare and people’s self-respect.
Alleging that all three parties are family-centric outfits, he said they only want to promote their children in politics.
Amit Shah also alleged that the Congress and BRS are neck-deep in corruption. Listing out the alleged scams during the Congress rule, Amit Shah also dared Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to hold a press conference and deny the charges.
The Home Minister also mentioned the scams under the BRS, including the Delhi excise policy scam allegedly involving K. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
He also slammed both the parties for going back on their promises. The Congress had promised to eliminate poverty four generations ago, but the poor only became poorer, he said.
“On the other hand, you have the (Narendra) Modi government which is providing 5 kg free ration to 80 crore people. It has built 12 crore toilets, provided houses to 4 crore poor people, gave Ujwala gas connection to 10 crore women, supplied piped drinking water to 14 crore poor people, and paid Rs 6,000 each to 12 crore farmers every year,” he said.
He also urged the BJP cadres to explain to people that the Modi government gave a grant of Rs 2.50 lakh crore to Telangana in the last 10 years, while the previous UPA government had given only Rs 1.16 lakh crore in its 10-year tenure (2004-2024).
He claimed that in addition to this, the Modi government gave Rs 5 lakh crore to Telangana for projects in sectors such as railways, Metro, airports, highways, petroleum lines, universities, and Central institutes.
Describing the INDIA bloc as an alliance of ‘pariwarvadis’, the Home Minister said, “Sonia Gandhi’s only aim is to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister, KCR aims to make KTR the Chief Minister, Mamata Didi’s aim is to make her nephew the Chief Minister, Sharad Pawar’s aim is to make Supriya Sule the Chief Minister, Uddhav Thakrey’s aim is to make Aditya Thakrey the Chief Minister, while Lalu Prasad’s aim is to make his son Tejashwi the Chief Minister. It is only Narendra Modi who can work for the welfare of the people.”
Earlier, addressing the social media warriors of the BJP, Amit Shah urged them to work hard to ensure that the party wins more than 12 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.
He urged them to use social media to inform every voter about the achievements of the Modi government during the last 10 years, stating that the role of social media warriors is as important as the party cadres who do door-to-door campaigns.
Claiming that the Modi government made data cheap with a digital revolution, he asked the social media warriors to make use of this to take India’s success story to every household.
He also said that people across the country have decided to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time.
“In 10 years, Narendra Modi gave political stability to the country by ending the politics of ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’ and by providing a government with a full majority. There were allegations of corruption of lakhs of crores against the Congress and BRS governments. But Prime Minister Modi does not face any allegation of corruption of even 25 paise,” he said.
The Home Minister also said the Modi government has fulfilled all the promises it had made, as he recalled that building a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya was the promise mentioned on the first page of the party’s manifesto in 2019.
“For 500 years, devotees across the country wanted a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” he said, adding that the Congress party kept the issue hanging for 70 years.
The BJP leader also said the Congress even boycotted the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony of the Ram Temple on January 22 due to vote-bank politics.
He then referred to the scrapping of Article 370 and banning triple talaq, as he claimed that the Modi government has made the country safe and secure by eliminating terrorism and Maoism.
Union minister and state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy, MP K. Laxman, and the party’s candidates for the Lok Sabha elections from Telangana attended the event.