AICC national spokesperson Sravan Dasoju while delivering an emotional speech on Friday blasted K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), Minister for Industries, IT and Municipal Administration, who did not attend the open debate organised at the Telangana Martyrs Memorial, Gun Park. to discuss the issue of employment in Telangana.
The senior Congress leader criticized the minister for his arrogance and negligence of the welfare of Telangana, and for lying about recruitment numbers during a meeting at the Telangana Bhavan.
“Like father, like son. Shame KTR, you shamelessly betrayed 40 lakh beleaguered unemployed youths of Telangana with your fake and fabricated statements of filling up 1.32 lakh jobs in the state ever since you came into power,” said the AICC leader, while slamming KTR for his absence.
Dr Sravan along with Congress leaders and cadre had made arrangements to welcome KTR for an open debate on employment issues in Telangana. A separate chair had been decorated and kept ready especially for the minister. However, the minister did not show up, which was attributed to the fear that his statements would have been proven wrong publicly.
“We wouldn’t have beaten you KTR. In fact, we would have greeted you with nice garlands and flower bouquets. Democracy is all about healthy dialogue, discussion and debate to arrive at concrete solutions to complex issues,” the Congress leader said.
Ridiculing KTR’s statements on job offers, Dr Sravan explained that there were 4.19 lakh sanctioned jobs in 2014 while 3.12 lakh employees worked in the government and 1.07 lakh posts lay vacant. He questioned how current vacancies had gone up to 1.91 lakhs and the total number of existing employees reduced to 2.28 lakhs, if KTR was right. With the formation of new districts and gram panchayats, the total number of sanctioned jobs should have increased to 5.19 lakhd. As per the Biswal Commission, the state has only 2.28 lakh employees while 4.19 lakh sanctioned jobs are available, which means 47% of sanctioned jobs are currently vacant in Telangana, he noted.