Hyderabad, April 4, 2021: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was a follower of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and a staunch follower of Prime Minister Narender Modi. But KCR is misleading the minorities by wearing a fake mask of secularism, he said.
He was addressing a public meeting at Hill Colony in Nagarjuna Sagar town on Sunday in favour of Congress candidate and ex-CLP leader K. Jana Reddy as part of the by-election campaign.
Shabbir Ali listed out instances wherein TRS supported all controversial decisions of the BJP Government at the Centre. “CM KCR backed PM Modi in decisions like demonetisation, GST and elections of President and Vice President of India. Most importantly, TRS MPs supported the controversial Triple Talaq Bill, NIA Amendment Bill and also the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC). Although KCR has claimed that he was opposed to CAA and NRC, the TRS did not even pass a resolution in the Assembly to announce that TRS Govt will not implement CAA and NRC in Telangana,” he said.
The Congress leader claimed that 4% Muslim reservation, introduced by the previous Congress Government in 2004-05, has so far benefitted nearly 20 lakh poor Muslims in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “Thousands of poor Muslims, under BC-E category, are getting admissions in various courses including MBBS, Engineering and other professional courses since 2004 due to the policy implemented by the Congress Government. CM KCR did not fulfill the promise of enhancing the quota for Muslims in jobs and education to 12%. He is now trying to target the existing 4% Muslim reservation by not representing the case properly in the Supreme Court,” he alleged.
Shabbir Ali said that the TRS Government has been targeting minority institutions since 2014. He said almost 70% of engineering, MBA, MCA and other colleges were forced to shut down ever since TRS came to power. Further, he said KCR Govt has reduced funds for the higher education of minority youth. He said KCR was against poor Muslims getting higher education which was clearly evident from the fact that many schemes were either scrapped or their funding was reduced in the last seven years, he said.
The former minister said that the TRS Government did nothing for the economic empowerment of Muslims. “Not a single minority youth got even one rupee loan for business purposes. Over 1.53 lakh jobless youth had applied for loans in 2014-15. None of them got any loans. Further, the Minorities Finance Corporation stopped taking loan applications. KCR Govt is creating a hype about residential schools and Shaadi Mubarak. But in reality, it has pushed minorities into extreme poverty by not providing them jobs or giving any loans,” he alleged.
Shabbir Ali appealed to the voters of Nagarjuna Sagar constituency to elect Jana Reddy with a thumping majority. “Jana Reddy’s re-entry into the Assembly will completely change the politics of Telangana. KCR knows that he has no guts to face Jana Reddy. For the same reason, he is spending over Rs. 100 Crore just to avoid confronting Jana Reddy in the Assembly,” he said adding that he was confident of Jana Reddy’s victory with a margin of not less than 50,000 votes.
Congress candidate Jana Reddy, TPCC President Uttam Kumar Reddy and other senior leaders also addressed the public meeting.