Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday appealed to the people of the state to not become slaves of Delhi-based parties, urging them to emulate Tamil Nadu for their self-respect.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief gave the call at a massive public meeting held on the outskirts of Hyderabad, in Ranga Reddy district’s Kongara Kalan, amid talks of early polls in the state. Promising to take Telangana forward on the path of development, KCR, as he is popularly known, sought continued support of the people.

Lakhs of people were mobilised from across the state for the meeting christened “Pragathi Nivedana’ (Progress report). TRS leaders claimed that 25 lakh people attended the meeting.

Promising to take Telangana forward on the path of development, Rao sought continued support of the people so that the TRS can take various works launched by it to their logical conclusion

“You have to decide whether decisions related to Telangana should be made by us here, or whether we should become slaves of Delhi parties,” he said, in an obvious reference to the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, KCR made no announcement about dissolving the Telangana Assembly to go for early polls, as had been expected. He said state ministers and party leaders have authorised him to make a decision on the matter that is in the best interest of Telangana. “In the coming days, you will hear that decision,” KCR said.

The chief minister also hit out at Chandrababu Naidu, the former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, saying that people faced difficulties during his tenure due to high power tariffs.

Moreover, KCR announced the formation of a manifesto committee, headed by party general secretary K Keshava Rao. The panel will chalk out with what TRS plans to do if voted to power again in Telangana.

Seeking a fresh mandate, KCR promised to make “Bangaru” or golden Telangana a reality. Stating that works on many irrigation projects were on, he said the goal of bringing one crore acres under irrigation would be achieved in two years.

KCR vowed to further increase the revenues of the state and distribute the fruits of economic development among people. He promised to do more for the welfare of various sections of people by increasing the social security pensions and providing jobs to the unemployed.

The TRS chief recalled his announcement that he would not seek votes in the next elections if he failed to ensure tapped drinking water to every house in the state.

Claiming that no other politician in the country ever made such a commitment, KCR said 45 percent of “Mission Bhagiratha” was already completed and the remaining work will be completed by Diwali.

He lashed out at leaders of the Opposition parties for stating that their goal is to oust KCR from power. He accused them of creating hurdles in the path of development by filing court cases over irrigation projects.

KCR recalled the long struggle for Telangana state and referred to the injustices meted out to people in unified Andhra Pradesh. He said after creation of Telangana state, when the TRS government began its journey, there was uncertainty over the financial position of the new state.

He claimed that during the last four years Telangana had consistently recorded highest growth rate in the country.

KCR said overcoming the electricity shortage and ensuring 24-hour free electricity to farmers was one of the major achievements.

Speculations about early polls

The Telangana cabinet met on Sunday amid speculations that the ruling TRS might go for early state elections, but it made no decision on it.

The cabinet meet KCR chaired decided on a number of welfare measures, including increasing the salary of women working under the ASHA programme, Finance Minister Etela Rajender and Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said after the meeting.

On Friday, state minister and Rao’s son KT Rama Rao had said discussions had been held in the party on advancing the Assembly polls, but no decision has been made yet.

In this backdrop, the cabinet meeting assumed significance, but the ministers indicated that the subject was not on their agenda on Sunday.

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