Hyderabad: Telangana minister K. T. Rama Rao ‘accepted’ the challenge of ex-Infosys director Mohandas Pai to show results in addressing malnutrition, saying that his state will see a ‘remarkable turnaround” in the next 18 months.
KTR, as he is popularly called, also took a swipe at Karnataka and Gujarat — both which are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — in his tweet Friday in which he tagged his state’s Women and Child Development department and WCD minister Satyavathi Rathod.
Challenge accepted Mohan👍
In the next 18 months, you will see a remarkable turnaround in malnutrition stats of my state
Mark my tweet; we will outdo both the 40% commission Govt in Karnataka & Rapist Remission Govt in Gujarat@SatyavathiTRS Garu & @WCDTelangana let’s gear up https://t.co/6jensKrgVs
— KTR (@KTRTRS) September 2, 2022
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) minister’s response came after Pai had tweeted Wednesday challenging him to “show some action”. Pai had also asked him to show data on malnutrition in Telangana and what he has done for Telangana.
In his tweet which he tagged BJP national spokesperson Sanju Verma and two others, Pai had mentioned that the malnutrition data was available in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5.
The national survey had pointed out how Telangana lags behind other states in several nutrition-related parameters. It had mentioned that there was an increase in number of children, below 5 years of age, who are overweight, stunted and wasted.
While the Twitter fight between the two was regarding the malnutrition statistics, it began after KTR Wednesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that ‘bhajans’ (prayers) are part of the programme to fight malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh.
In his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme Tuesday, Modi had also lauded the Mera Bachha Abhiyan which was launched in 2019 in Datia district to eradicate malnutrition. The prime minister had noted how ‘Bhajans-Kirtans’ were part of the Abhiyan, along with awareness programmes and meals for the children.
With Telangana headed to the polls next year, the TRS and the BJP are already on an overdrive to win support of the electorate. The top TRS leaders, including KTR and his father and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, are leaving no chance to take on Modi and the BJP.
In August, KTR had reacted to the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to the 11 convicts of the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case. “This is a Blot on the Collective Conscience of our Nation . Rapists being garlanded & treated like war heroes or freedom fighters!!! Remember, what happened to #BilkisBano today can happen to anyone of us tomorrow. Speak up India,” the Telangana minister had tweeted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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