Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to this newspaper on the path that the Congress has been pursuing in Telangana. Kharge shed light on unkept promises, rampant corruption, and economic woes plaguing Telangana, among other issues. Edited excerpts:
Q: The Congress has been conducting three to four rallies and roadshows daily in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Telangana. What are the two major issues for the Congress in these states?
A: The issue in Telangana is that they (the ruling BRS) haven’t fulfilled the promises they made. The promises they made when they became the Chief Minister, those promises have not been kept. Now, corruption has increased to such an extent that people themselves are fed up. The common people are saying that Sonia Gandhi had helped create this state, to create a good and model Telangana. But today, those who have received this state are ruining it entirely. There’s no employment, no control over inflation, and there are various mafias like the land mafia. The government has control over everything, and it’s being run by powerful people.
Q: Since the victory in Karnataka, Congress started working in Telangana. The people of Telangana were given the state by the UPA government, by the Congress. But after that, the party disappeared com pletely from both Telangana and Andhra.
A: These people created an environment where collectively we couldn’t progress. We saw that there are people who are not only wasting money but also burdening the people with debts from external agencies. There’s a debt of at least Rs 5 lakh 7 thousand crore. Before this, when the Congress government or any other government was there, they at least kept it in surplus. Today, forget surplus, every person has a debt of Rs 1 lakh 40 thousand on their heads. If governance remains like this, nobody will benefit. You’ll keep giving slogans or make ten promises and fulfill half of it in six months; you’re deceiving people. The promises made to the people were not fulfilled.
Q: Sir, as Congress President, in the elections, there was a lot of discussion regarding OBCs, regarding caste census in both parties.
A: The slogan was to make a Backward Chief Minister. Amit Shah made this promise, then Modi-ji did. But out of our four Chief Ministers, three are Backward, whether in Karnataka, Rajasthan, or in Chhattisgarh. We have three out of four, but we never used to talk about it. They remove poor people from their states and bring their people. They make allegations against Congress. Maybe this is their intention, to criticise Congress.
They maligned Congress in the name of dynasty. Congress didn’t ask for anything; they made an act for the country’s service and poverty alleviation, the Right to Education, Right to Food, Right to Information, etc.