HYDERABAD: Increasing his criticism of the BJP after announcing plans to found a national party, Telengana Chief Ministerster K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) claimed that the party is only in power with 36% of the vote and that a non-BJP government will take over at the federal level in 2024, the year of the next Lok Sabha elections.
He added that the state administration would take the Centre to court for reducing the borrowing limits for FRBM. In addition, he made the "in a second" resignation offer if his assertions that the Andhra Pradesh government owes TS Rs 17,000 crore in back taxes are accurate.
In his Monday speech to the Legislative Assembly, Rao claimed that "not even God can save the BJP administration in the elections of 2024." KCR elaborated on his aspirations for the country by pledging to bring Telangana's flagship welfare programs (Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Dalit Bandhu, 24 hour free electricity for agriculture) as well as development initiatives like Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, and lift irrigation projects to the entire country by 2024.
KCR also mentioned in the Assembly his plans to launch a new national party. Some people are making fun of my attempts to start a national party. Is it against the law for only they (referring to the BJP) to lead a national party? Why not start a national party? The CM inquired.
He said that the BJP only won a full majority in eight states and that, apart from Uttar Pradesh, it used backdoor tactics to overthrow democratically elected governments in all other large states. He said, the BJP shares power with regional parties in ten states, while it only has less than ten MLAs in ten more, and none in two others.
We will remove the BJP government from office in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections because of its anti-people, anti-farmer, and anti-labor policies, as well as its general failure. Less than 20 months remain in the BJP government's term. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, a non-BJP administration will take office, he said. He dared the BJP-led federal government to outlaw all other political parties and watch what transpired.
KDC declared that the state government will take legal action against the Centre for lowering FRBM borrowing limits and for stopping loans for power and irrigation projects in the state from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation. He accused the Central government of weakening the federal spirit and usurping all of the powers of states (PFC).
The Chief Minister said he would resign if his assertion that the Center underutilised its installed power capacity of 4,04 lakh MW was proven to be inaccurate during a brief discussion on the "Central Electricity Bill — Ramification" in the Assembly on Monday. Rao took a harsh stance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led
government at the Center, charging that they put obstacles in Telangana's way of implementing a 24x7 power supply to all sectors while the Center and all other States failed to do so because of their inefficiency and poor power policies in all other States.
Rao criticised Modi for selling the assets of multiple PSUs and for now focusing on the agriculture and power sectors in order to transfer control of those industries to their corporate allies by increasing the cost of inputs for farmers and the cost of electricity for consumers. Rao pleaded with the Prime Minister to revoke power reforms, such as the Electricity (Amendments) Bill 2022, that are harmful to farmers, the underprivileged, and the middle class, and warned that if the Centre did not revoke them, there would be a popular uprising.
Rao referred to Modi as the "master of retracting legislation and Acts," noting that the politician has previously retracted changes to the Land Acquisition Act after receiving criticism from farmers. Due to fierce farmer protests, Obama recently rescinded three black farm laws and even offered an apology. He should also reverse the electricity regulations that require all consumers to have pre-paid smart metres in addition to the installation of metres on agricultural pump sets. Because these reforms would eventually result in the privatisation of the power sector and Discoms, people from lower socioeconomic classes, SCs, STs, BCs, and other minorities cannot afford higher electricity bills.
With a base load (firm power) of 2.42 lakh MW, the country's installed power capacity is 4.04 lakh MW. On June 22 of this year, the nation experienced its highest peak load, which was 2.1 lakh MW. Less than our base load, this. In addition to making the most of the base load, we can utilise at least 1.65 lakh MW right away, he said. The CM noted that the NDA and the TRS governments were established simultaneously at the federal and state levels eight years ago, and that Telangana's per capita electricity consumption jumped from 970 units in 2014 to 2,126 units in 2022. Although Telangana's consumption in 2022 is included, the national per capita power consumption has climbed from 957 units in 2014 to just 1,255 units.
He blasted the government for not using even rubbish to generate electricity, claiming that "India produces crores of tonnes of garbage every day." Even with trash, we could have made electricity. The Telangana government has already started producing power from rubbish within GHMC borders and in a few other municipalities, but our ineffective federal government can't even use garbage to generate electricity.
KCR said, the implementation of electricity reforms would have a negative effect on 98 lakh families in Telangana alone. "As a result, I was adamantly opposed to power reforms. In exchange for the implementation of power reforms, the centre proposed to increase the state's FRBM borrowing ceiling by 5% annually for five years. It translates to an annual increase in loans of Rs 5,000 crore. I firmly refused, keeping the interests of the people in mind, even if it cost our state 25,000 crore rupees in lost financing.
He said that by halting REC and RFC loans to the Yadadri power plant, the Centre was putting pressure on the Telangana government to enact power reforms. He added, "They modified credit agreement conditions. We engaged into a bilateral arrangement with PFC, REC and the state government. Rao claimed that the centre wants us to get into a tripartite arrangement with the objective of preventing loans to Telangana.
He accused the Center of passing legislation disguised as reforms in order to rob the populace and help its crony capitalist pals. He claimed that "the Center is attempting to transfer the assets worth crores of rupees that the electricity firms own to the corporate businesses." He warned the country's 20 lakh power sector workers to fight back against power reforms. He told them that they would soon lose their employment if they didn't.
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