New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi cited the alleged involvement of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter, K. Kavitha’s, alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor scam case to target the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party in the state while speaking at a rally in Telangana Sunday. Gandhi’s comment is likely to rile the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi, as it will seem to lend credence to the allegations of scam in Delhi’s excise policy.
Gandhi’s comments come at a time when the Congress and AAP are already at odds, with the latter threatening not to attend the next meeting of parties in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, if the Congress doesn’t commit itself to opposing the Union government’s bill on Delhi services in the next session of Parliament.
Fifteen opposition parties had met in Patna last month to forge a common front in “national interest”, with the aim to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
ThePrint had earlier reported that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had wanted Congress to denounce an ordinance passed in May, which set up a three-member authority for transfer and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital, to be headed by the Delhi chief minister but to include two central-government appointed officers — the Delhi chief secretary and principal secretary, home department — as members. The Delhi government has claimed it will dilute its control over the transfers and postings. Congress had insisted on taking a call when the ordinance is introduced as a bill in the next Parliament session.
Meanwhile, the Delhi liquor scam case relates to the now-withdrawn Delhi liquor sales policy introduced in 2021. While then Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been arrested in the alleged money laundering case and kickbacks case, KCR’s daughter, Kavitha, has also been questioned by investigating agencies.
Speaking at the rally in Telangana’s Khammam district Sunday, Gandhi said the Congress had refused to attend last month’s opposition meet in Patna if the BRS was invited. The Telangana ruling party was not part of the meeting.
At the ‘Jana Garjana’ rally in poll-bound Telangana, Gandhi alleged that since the central agencies came to know about KCR’s involvement in the liquor scam, the BRS had become the BJP’s ‘B-team’.
“Telangana was a dream. It was dream for the poor, farmers, workers and weak people. For the past nine years, the TRS [Telangans Rashtra Samithi, the name BRS used to be earlier known by] has worked to squash this dream. You had dreamt of something and the TRS did something else. And now, the TRS has changed their name. The new name is BRS. Meaning BJP Rishtedar Samiti [BJP relative samithi],” alleged Gandhi.
He added that the Congress had clearly told opposition parties that it will not share stage with the BRS.
“There was a meeting of the opposition and opposition leaders said that they wanted to call TRS to the meeting. We told them very clearly that if TRS attends the meeting, then Congress will not attend the meeting. We said that TRS is the B-team of BJP. We won’t sit with them. We will remove them from Telangana. We can never compromise with the B-team of BJP,” he said.
He further claimed that the KCR government is facing pressure from the Narendra Modi government at the centre.
“There is pressure on the KCR government from Narendra Modi because of the corruption they’ve indulged. The agencies know of the corruption they did in the liquor scam,” alleged the Congress leader.
He further alleged: “In the matter of corruption, your Chief Minister [KCR] has left no stone unturned. In the Kaleshwaram [lift irrigation] project he took 1 lakh crore rupees. You told me about the Dharani [integrated land records management system] problem during the Bharat Jodo Yatra [a pan-India yatra led by Gandhi last year, which culminated in Kashmir early this year]. You told me how the chief minister takes your land. He was corrupt in Mission Kakatiya [for development of minor irrigation infrastructure, strengthening community-based irrigation management and adopting a comprehensive programme for restoration of tanks]. He has stolen something or the other from all sectors of the society.”
During the speech, Rahul also announced the Congress’s first poll promise in the state — a pension scheme of Rs 4,000 per month for senior citizens and widows, named “Cheyutha”.
Telangana is scheduled to vote for the assembly in December.
Also read: ‘Weed out’ corrupt politics from state, Modi tells people in Telangana, as CM KCR skips event
‘Doors open for those who believe in Congress ideology’
Invoking the Congress’s Karnataka election win in May, Gandhi said that the BJP had dropped out of the electoral fight in Telangana.
“On one hand there’s your CM, his family and his arabpati [rich] friends and on the other side, there are all the poor people of Telangana. That’s why Telangana will see what Karnataka saw,” he said.
Gandhi added: “First they said that in Telangana there’s a fight between TRS, Congress and BJP. But BJP was finished in Telangana. In the same way that a car running on the highway punctures all four wheels. Now, it’s a fight between Congress and the BJP’s team. Like we beat the BJP in Karnataka, in Telangana we will defeat the B team of the BJP.”
He further said that the doors of the Congress party are open even for those who have quit the party in the past, provided that they believe in the Congress ideology.
“There are many such people who left the Congress earlier. I want to give you a message. Our doors are open for you. Our doors are open for whoever believes in the Congress ideology. Those who follow the BJP and TRS ideology, we have nothing to do with them,” he said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: BJP high command ‘urges more poaching’ as Karnataka rout sparks sparring in Telangana unit