• Shabbir leads Congress protest against hike in fuel prices in Nizamabad
• BJP, TRS Govts equally responsible for rise in petrol, diesel prices: Shabbir
• Weak TRS surviving on leaders imported from Congress, TDP: Congress

Nizamabad, July 12, 2021: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the BJP Government at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana were equally responsible for the continuous rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders.

He was addressing a massive bicycle and bullock cart rally organised by the Nizamabad District Congress Committee on Monday as part of nationwide protest held by the Congress party to protest against the fuel price hike. Former Minister P. Sudarshan Reddy, Nizamabad DCC President M. Mohan Reddy, Taher Bin Hamdan and other senior leaders were present.

Shabbir Ali said that the petrol prices have crossed Rs. 100 per litre in all districts of Telangana due to the wrong policies of BJP and TRS Government. While the base price of petrol was around Rs. 40-41 per litre, the Central and State Governments were collecting about Rs. 59 towards taxes/VAT. He said that Telangana’s VAT of 35.2% on Petrol and 27% on Diesel was highest across India. He said that the prices of petrol and diesel increased 35 times since the first week of May and they became costlier by Rs. 7-8 per litre. He said that the government was not extending the benefit of drop-in Crude Oil prices. “In UPA, when Crude Oil was $107.09, the price of petrol was Rs. 71.41 and Diesel were only Rs. 55.49. Today, under BJP and TRS rule, Crude Oil is $74.63, but the Petrol & Diesel prices have crossed Rs. 100 and Rs. 95 per litre respectively, he said.

The Congress leader slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for his silence on the rising fuel prices. He said that the Chief Minister did not hold a single meeting to review the impact of rising fuel prices. He said that the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders has imposed a huge burden on the common people. He said almost everything, from food and medicines to other products, has become costlier. But CM KCR did nothing to control the rising inflation, he said.

Shabbir Ali also condemned the remarks made by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao against TPCC President A. Revanth Reddy and said that the Congress party does not need moral lessons from TRS which holds a record of encouraging defections. “During his first term, CM KCR engineered defections of 4 MPs, 25 MLAs and 18 MLCs belonging to Congress and TDP to ruling TRS. In the second term, KCR made 12 Congress MLAs and 2 TDP MLAs defect to TRS. These defections were executed like a wholesale purchase in open violation of the law. Further, Revanth Reddy resigned from his post before joining the Congress party. So far, he has contested two elections on a Congress ticket and also won from Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 elections. Therefore, Harish Rao should check the facts before making any such comments in future,” he said.

The Congress leader said that more than half of ministers in the State Cabinet, including CM KCR, originally belonged to TDP. Of 17 ministers, only eight are originally from the TRS party. CM KCR, Indrakaran Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Ch Malla Reddy, Errebelli Dayakar Rao, Gangula Kamalakar and Satyavathi Rathore are originally from TDP while two other ministers Sabitha Indra Reddy and P. Ajay Kumar belonged to Congress. Therefore, he said CM KCR should think twice before making any comments on the Congress party.

“Congress is a factory for the production of good leaders while TRS is an outlet for corruption. Even after seven years in power, TRS has failed to produce big leaders anywhere in the State. TRS is so weak that it needs to import leaders from Congress, TDP and other parties to face by-elections,” he said.

Shabbir Ali said that TRS and BJP leaders were getting nightmares ever since the Congress party nominated Revanth Reddy as the PCC President. He said that the Congress party would continue to expose the failures of TRS and BJP Govt on all fronts.

He said that the ongoing controversy over sharing of rivers’ water between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was fabricated and conspired by CM KCR himself to divert people’s attention from real issues. He reminded that CM KCR had invited AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy for the inauguration of the Kaleshwaram Project. He also issued a statement at the residence of YSRCP leader and actress Roja in August 2019 promising to convert Rayalaseema into ‘Ratnala Seema’ by ensuring supply of water from Telangana.