HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao said Opposition parties in Telangana were gripped by fear of Dalita Bandhu scheme. He said the very mention of the scheme was creating tremors among the Opposition parties and their leaders were scared as if someone had dropped a bomb on them.
The CM categorically stated no one could stop Dalita Bandhu and he would go ahead with the scheme, come what might. He said he would not go back on the scheme even if it required spending Rs 1 lakh crore.
Rao said he had three more new schemes like Dalita Bandhu in his mind and if he implemented them, the Opposition parties would lose their identity and vanish from Telangana.
"I fail to understand why the Opposition parties are so much frightened of Dalita Bandhu. Ever since I announced the Dalita Bandhu, Opposition leaders are raising a hue and cry as if someone has dropped a bomb on them. They should realise that Dalit Bandhu is not a new scheme. It was conceived in March 2020 but its implementation was delayed by over a year due to Covid-19 and subsequent financial crisis. Even in this year's budget in March, we sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore for this scheme. Since we have to make a beginning somewhere, I have decided to launch this scheme in Huzurabad soon," the Chief Minister stated.
Rao was addressing a meeting at Telangana Bhavan on Friday after formally inducting senior BJP leader from Huzurabad, E. Peddi Reddy into the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) fold along with his supporters.
"When I said I will provide 24x7 uninterrupted power supply to all sectors soon after becoming Chief Minister in 2014, the Opposition parties ridiculed me. When I launched Kaleshwaram, Mission Bhagiratha, 24x7 free power to agriculture, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Kalyana Lakshmi schemes etc, they again expressed doubts over the implementation. But today, they all are a reality in front of our eyes. They are now talking against Dalit Bandhu in the same manner. But I will successfully implement Dalit Bandhu and show them the results," the Chief Minister remarked.
He said Dalit Bandhu was the result of six years of his brainstorming sessions with officials and intellectuals on how to empower Dalits in the state socially and economically and it was not done overnight.
"It requires a lot of money to implement Dalit Bandhu. For this reason, it took time. Today Telangana has reached a stage where it can afford to implement this scheme. Telangana GSDP and per capita income today is double the national average. Telangana is flooded with more and more investments and industries. Our agriculture production has increased by leaps and bounds and contributed 17 per cent to GSDP, the highest in the country. Our state will prosper even more in the coming years. I felt this is the right time to implement Dalit Bandhu," Rao added.
