‘Indiramma rajyam’ a dark era of starvation: KCR jibe at Congress pledge

HYDERABAD: BRS president and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday criticised the Congress-promised ‘Indiramma Rajyam’, describing the tenure of the Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the worst. KCR’s scathing attack on Congress came on Indira Gandhi’s 106th birth anniversary.

Dismissing the Congress functionaries’ claims of introducing a pro-poor government akin to the one led by Indira Gandhi, KCR asserted that ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ was a period of starvation-related deaths, scams, encounters and looting.

“Telangana was labelled a backward region during ‘Indiramma Rajyam’, prompting former CM of undivided Andhra late NT Rama Rao to establish a new party and provide subsidised rice at Rs 2 per kg to feed the poor,” he said.

Addressing public gatherings in Alampur, Kollapur, Nagarkurnool and Kalwakurthy constituencies, KCR said: “Indira Gandhi-led government looted people’s wealth and left them to suffer.”

Accusing Congress of merging Telangana and Andhra Pradesh without public consent in 1956, KCR urged voters to compare the 50 years of Congress rule with the nearly 10 years of BRS government in Telangana.

“The progress achieved in the past decade would be lost if you (people) vote for Congress,” he said. KCR alleged Congress obstructed the formation of Telangana and attempted to split BRS.