CM Revanth Asks Voters To Elect Pro-Govt Sarpanchs

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday called upon voters to elect Congress-backed candidates as sarpanchs in the upcoming gram panchayat elections. Without taking the name of the Congress, Revanth Reddy appealed to voters to elect those who support and work with the state government for the development of villages.

He said that electing candidates at the village level who support the government was essential for smooth and uninterrupted implementation of development and welfare programmes.

Addressing a public meeting in Makthal in Mahbubnagar district, marking the inauguration of the nine-day-long Praja Palana Vijayotsavalu, the second anniversary celebrations of the Congress government, Revanth Reddy cautioned that electing candidates opposed to the government would create roadblocks for schemes aimed at improving rural livelihoods.

Revanth Reddy said that the Congress government had implemented key welfare programmes and development initiatives within just two years and appealed to people to give him a 10-year mandate to deliver long-term results in irrigation, education, employment creation and overall progress of Telangana. He reiterated that irrigation and education were the government’s top priorities, enabling both agricultural growth and opportunities for youth.

The Chief Minister accused the previous BRS government of neglecting the erstwhile undivided Mahbubnagar district, alleging that former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao did not complete irrigation projects despite having been elected from the region as an MP in 2009.

He said the BRS had betrayed Palamuru’s trust and promised to correct historical injustices by accelerating ongoing irrigation works. He cited the Narayanpet-Kodangal lift irrigation project as an example, claiming the Congress government resumed it immediately after coming to power by resolving land acquisition hurdles through enhanced compensation of `20 lakh per acre for affected farmers.

Revanth Reddy said the government was pursuing the completion of all pending irrigation projects in Palamuru, including the Kodangal lift irrigation project, within the next two years, asserting that the responsibility to provide water to farmlands rested with him as a “son of Palamuru.”

He also upheld the district as a model for educational advancement, noting that 14 Young India Integrated Schools were being established and new higher education institutions, including an IIIT campus, were being facilitated to strengthen academic opportunities for rural students.

Highlighting welfare measures, the Chief Minister said free bus travel for women, 200 units of free power, subsidised fine rice through ration cards and huge allocations for farmers were being implemented effectively. He said the government had spent `1.04 lakh crore on the agriculture sector in two years and completed caste census, SC sub-categorisation and support mechanisms for marginalised communities.

Revanth Reddy alleged attempts by BRS leaders to instigate autorickshaw drivers against the government after the launch of free bus travel for women and warned that such efforts would not succeed.

He said the upcoming Telangana Rising Global Summit on December 8 and 9 would showcase the state’s progress and investment potential to the world, strengthening efforts to transform Telangana into a $1 trillion economy by 2034 and a $3 trillion economy by 2047.

Appealing to voters, he urged them to elect sarpanches who support development. “Choose those who want to build your villages, not those who obstruct progress,” he said, adding that funds and water for villages were his responsibility and that Palamuru would be developed into a prosperous agrarian region over the next decade.