Hyderabad: At a mammoth public meeting marking the conclusion of the TRS’ 15th plenary session in Khammam on Wednesday, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that the party would not seek votes in 2019 elections if his government was not able to provide tap water at every home by then.
He said that he dreamt of implemented the TRS election manifesto 100 per cent and had set his eyes on making TS the No. 1 state in the country in all spheres and a big win in the 2019 polls. He asked voters to ensure a victory for minister Tummala Nageswara Rao in the Palair Assembly bypoll.
Spelling out his government’s priorities in welfare and developmental schemes, the CM said, “Telangana is reeling under severe drought. We are facing droughts every two-three 3 years. The water crisis should go away forever…Mission Bhagiratha is the only solution. I am putting the MPs’ and legislators’ careers at stake by saying that the TRS will not seek votes if we don’t provide tap water to every home this term. Some are trying to put up obstacles, but they won’t succeed,” he said.
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Mr Rao announced that every home in 6,200 villages would get tap water by December-end and 95 per cent of Mission Bhagiratha will be implemented by December 2017. He also promised that the government would ensure 24 hour three-phase power by 2019.
“Of the three issues we focused on during the Telangana movement, Neellu, Nidhulu and Nimakalu (water, funds and jobs), the funds and jobs issues have been solved. Telangana is now a free state and all funds and jobs are its own. Water is pending. We will ensure drinking water to every home, and to one crore acres. We have earmarked Rs 25,000 crore for the irrigation sector this year,” he said.
Mr Rao added, “My dream is to see a haritha (green) Telangana, smile on every child’s face, uplift of weaker sections, 24-hour power supply, KG-to-PG to all etc. KCR will not sleep till these goals are achieved. We earmarked Rs 35,000 crore for welfare. TS is the only state providing double bedroom housing, Rs 1,000 old-age and other pensions.” “As long as I have your blessings, I will do what you want. I don’t have a high command. People are my boss,” he said.
Earlier at the plenary, he had said: “We are No. 1 in welfare and have allocated Rs 35,000 crore. We are No. 1 in the IT sector with Rs 60,000 crore IT exports. Economy is vibrant with 15 per cent growth. We may go for a Rs 2-lakh crore Budget in 2019-2020.” He added, “Power woes are gone. We will get power from Chhattisgarh in October.”
Mr Rao asked all MPs, legislators and senior party leaders to complete the laying of pipelines passing through farmers’ fields under Mission Bhagiratha before May 30. He even recited a couplet of famous poet Enugu Lakshmana Kavi in Telugu: “Aarambhincharu Neecha Manavulu... (Some people are scared to start work, some start and leave it midway while some with conviction and commitment complete the task).”
For those gunning for MLA tickets and nominated posts, he said that delimitation would increase Assembly seats from 119 to 153, 50 Legislative Council seats from the existing 40, 3,500 to 4,000 posts in market committees, temple committees, corporation, grandhalaya samasthas etc.
He said party, village to state level committees would be constituted, training classes conducted for all sections of party workers and leaders and nominated posts would be filled in a phased manner. “Party and government should work in tandem,” he added.
