When I don’t support BJP, I’m branded anti-national: Telangana CM KCR
Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao further said the BJP branded anyone who spoke against the ruling camp at the Centre as anti-nationals.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday said whenever he did not extend his support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was branded as an anti-national. Rao, also known as KCR, further said the BJP branded anyone who spoke against the ruling camp at the Centre as anti-nationals.
Rao, who heads the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), further wanted to know about the Narendra Modi-led government’s promise of two crore jobs at a time when his administration provided employment to 1.35 lakh people and another 70,000 would be employed soon.
The CM also alleged that people of Telangana were being ignored for the Padma awards. “The Centre is not giving Padma awards to people of our state, they’re are ignoring us,” he said.
“When I don’t support them (BJP) they brand me as anti-national. BJP also brands people as urban Naxals if they speak against them. I’m asking a simple question will Centre buy the state’s parboiled rice or not?,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“We’ve provided jobs to 1.35 lakh people in the state and 70,000 more jobs will be given. According to the studies, the unemployment rate in Telangana is low. What about the Centre’s promise of providing 2 Cr jobs?” he added.
Rao’s statements came amid a severe attack from the state BJP unit over Rao’s decision to not reduce VAT on fuel in the state. On Sunday, the chief minister said the BJP had no moral right to ask states to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel and demanded that the NDA government at the Centre remove cess on the petroleum products.
He further said the TRS will organise dharnas in all assembly constituencies on November 12, with lakhs of farmers demanding the Central government to procure entire Kharif (summer or monsoon crop) paddy produced in Telangana.
On Sunday, he hit out at the state BJP leadership who announced agitational programmes against the TRS government for discouraging farmers not to go for paddy cultivation this Rabi season. He said it was the Centre which is not willing to procure paddy from the state.
