Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said that he is ready to play his part in building a third alternative to BJP and Congress at national level.

By | Published: 10:18 pm 12:27 am

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao strongly pitched for a ‘qualitative’ change in Indian politics, especially at the national level, as political parties in the country have been in a rut for the last 70 years and lacked novelty in their functioning. He believed that the urge for change for the better would come from people and the leadership to bring about such qualitative change would emerge automatically.

“It happened in the past and it will happen in the future. I have nothing personal against Congress, BJP or leaders of either parties, but I am speaking in the best interests of the nation,” the Chief Minister said. If the need arose, he was ready to play his part in building a third alternative to BJP and Congress, which have failed the nation miserably for the past 70 years.

Rao was speaking to newsmen after chairing the TRS Parliamentary Party meeting at Pragati Bhavan here on Saturday. The Chief Minister, who was in an expansive mood, took off on the BJP’s criticism of him and virtually utilised the opportunity to share his ideas on national politics.

While asserting that he would stitch up a national alternative sans Congress and BJP, the TRS supremo said like-minded leaders from other parties and States were in touch with him. He argued that people were vexed with the goings on at the Centre. “If Congress replaces BJP at the Centre tomorrow, nothing would change except the names of schemes. It is time we put an end to such old practices and laws to pave way for qualitative change in politics,” Chandrashekhar Rao observed.

Challenge to Centre

The Chief Minister dared the Centre to implement Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops, including chilli and cotton, and also increase MSP by Rs 500 per quintal for crops like paddy. “Even 70 years after independence, only 35 per cent of water is exploited from Indian rivers even as the governments failed to provide drinking and irrigation water to people,” he said.

The mindset change among people had seen emergence of Janata Party at the national level as well as formation of TDP and TRS at the State level. These exemplified the public demand for change. “The time has again come for such a change in national politics,” he said.

Rao stated that China made rapid progress in the past 20-30 years due to qualitative reforms and emerged as the second largest economy in the world, but India failed to make rapid progress. He observed that the Union Budget had increased from Rs 4 lakh crore in 2004 to Rs 24 lakh crore in 2018 on an incremental basis but no special effort was made to increase it methodically.

The Chief Minister said there had to be unanimity in governance and among all the States. However, the Centre had been consistently ignoring the State’s demand on empowering the States to enhance reservations. He stated that even BJP-ruled States like Rajasthan were seeking powers to decide reservations in its territory and Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu too were implementing reservations as per their wishes.

‘Ready to provide tools’

When asked if he was entering national politics, Rao made it clear that if it ever happened, he would do it openly. He expressed his readiness to provide tools for the change that could result in qualitative change.

The Chief Minister said lack of clarity on granting Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh as the perfect example of age-old politics in the country. He felt that either BJP or TDP should have given clarity on the issue rather than putting people in turmoil. “I am talking about such kind of politics which should be put to an end. If you have promised — either deliver it or deny it, but be true to people who voted for you,” he affirmed.

Indicating the rapid progress of Telangana under TRS rule, Chandrashekhar Rao said the capital expenditure in 23 districts of undivided Andhra Pradesh under the Congress regime was Rs 1.19 lakh crore, as against Rs 1.15 lakh crore in 10 erstwhile districts of Telangana under TRS rule. He attributed the feat to progressive thinking and reforms of the Telangana government in tune with people’s aspirations.