Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao of betraying the students and jobless youth who sacrificed their lives and careers for the statehood cause.
Addressing the jobless youth ‘dhoom dham’ programme at Tagore Auditorium of Osmania University on Monday evening, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana became a reality solely due to the sacrifices made by the students and youth. He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was moved by the suicides committed by several youth for the statehood cause. She decided to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh despite knowing well that the Congress party would suffer a major political blow. “Her intention was to prevent other students and youth from taking extreme steps. However, KCR has brought students and youth to the same position where they stood before formation of Telangana. He completely neglected them and have been distributing benefits among betrayers of Telangana and Andhra contractors,” he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said as against the promise of providing one job for every household, TRS Government has failed to provide on job for even one village in the State. He said the KCR Government has failed to fill the vacancies in various departments which existed during the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. He said there was no dearth of funds for TRS Government to pay to Andhra contractors, but it was not having money to pay Fee Reimbursement and scholarships for Telangana’s students. He said KCR has deliberately starved all universities and other institutions of required funds. He also made a mention of how government’s negligence led to the closure of several professional colleges in the State. “KCR was quick to release hundreds of crores to construct a palatial bungalow for his own accommodation. But he has no funds even to carryout repairs in the students’ hostels,” he said.
Recalling the sacrifices made by the students and youth, the TPCC chief said while hundreds of students laid down their lives for Telangana cause, thousands of youth participated in statehood agitation without fearing any consequences. “Instead of rewarding those brave students and honouring the families of martyrs, KCR has tried to downplay their contribution by claiming that he alone had brought Telangana State. It was an insult for all martyrs and other activists of statehood agitation. KCR has turned too arrogant and behaving nothing less than a dictator,” he alleged.
Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the Chief Minister fulfil all the promises that he made with the students and youth by providing them jobs. He said any delay in resolving the concerns of jobless youth would be an indication of KCR’s inefficiency and a proof of TRS Government’s deliberate neglect of weaker sections. He also warned the TRS Government against adopting intimidating tactics against the youth. He alleged that the TRS Government was treating the jobless youth as a potential threat and they are being denied permission even to hold agitation. He said that the Congress party would back all the agitations of students and jobless youth until they get justice.
“I and my wife (N. Padmavathi) are both MLAs. We don’t have any children. We have dedicated our entire lives for the service of common people. All of you are like our children and we cannot see you suffer. KCR Govt has completely ruined the education sector. We will do everything possible to ensure that students get their due share in Telangana and jobless youth get deserving jobs,” he told students. (NSS