Hyderabad: Congress president Rahul Gandhi yesterday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as “re-designers” of projects, raking up the Rafale deal and hitting out at the TRS government in the State.
Addressing students and unemployed youths at a public meeting here, Gandhi also said petrol and diesel prices are falling globally in other countries while they were being increased in India.
“Narendra Modi gave lakhs of crores of rupees free gift to Anil Ambani by redesigning Rafale deal. Earlier they used to call this corruption. Now they are calling it redesigning. Even in Telangana, your chief minister (K Chandrasekhar Rao) is also specialist in redesigning (of projects),” he said.
Anil Ambani had floated the company just ten days before bagging the contract and has no experience in aircraft manufacturing, Gandhi alleged. The Chief Minister supported GST and demonetisation.
“Whatever that re-designer (Modi) does there, the re-designer (Rao) supports him here (in Telangana),” he said.
The Ambani group, which has been in the eye of a raging political storm over the fighter jet deal, has denied receiving any contract from the Defence ministry and said “unfounded and incorrect” allegations were being made to “mislead people and cloud the issue”.
The Congress leader alleged that Telangana irrigation project, which was conceived in the name of B R Ambedkar, has been redesigned and renamed as “Kaleswaram” and project cost escalated to Rs one lakh crore from the earlier estimated Rs 38,000 crore.
“No tendering and no transparency. All the money goes to one family,” he said, targeting the KCR family members.
Speaking on escalating petrol and diesel prices, Gandhi said India is the only country where prices of petroleum prices were going up despite fall in international prices.
“Internationally petrol and diesel prices are falling and in India they are raising. The money you pay from your pocket for petrol for your motorcycle or scooter, that money is being sent to 15 or 20 businessmen directly by Modi,” he said.
Modi and Rao talk about “dreams” but the Central government has introduced ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ and unleashed ‘Police raj’, while in Telangana “people are not even allowed to speak,” he alleged. The dreams dreamt by the people before the formation of Telangana have not been fulfilled by TRS government, Gandhi charged.
“All benefits are going to Chief Ministers family,” the congress leader said. He said when his party comes to power at the Centre, it will introduce a ‘one tax’ GST and day-to-day items used by the common man would be taken out of the GST ambit.
He alleged that the school fees in Hyderabad were increased by 400 per cent recently.
On his first visit to Telangana after becoming the party president, Gandhi had alleged yesterday that the “style” of Modi and Rao were the same as they only make tall and empty promises.
Describing Telangana as the “corruption capital” Gandhi had hit out at the TRS dispensation, alleging that only “one family” government is running the State.
Gandhi’s charges drew a sharp response from Rao, who “advised” him to be more “mature” while making remarks against the government. “Rahul Gandhi should improve his maturity. He should not read a script written by someone else.
He should know the facts about the State’s finances,” he told reporters yesterday.