Harish Rao flays Congress for undermining democratic systems in Telangana

HYDERABAD

Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly T. Harish Rao has criticised the Congress party for reciting constitutional values in Delhi while violating the same in States such as Telangana.

Speaking at the orientation meet for the party legislators here on Tuesday, he said both Congress and BJP were two sides of the same coin when it comes to weakening the democratic institutions. He termed the statements made by Congress leaders in Delhi on constitutional morality as hypocritical when the same principles were not followed by the Congress Government in Telangana.

Reacting to Congress leader and PAC Chairman K.C. Venugopal’s remarks that keeping the Deputy Speaker’s post vacant in the Lok Sabha for seven years amounts to a constitutional vacuum, Mr. Harish Rao said the observation was correct, but sought to know whether the same standard would not apply to Telangana.

He pointed out that it had been nearly two-and-a-half years since the Congress came to power in Telangana, yet the Deputy Speaker’s post in the State Assembly was not filled. He alleged that the Congress Government in Telangana was repeating the same undemocratic practices followed by the BJP and the two parties were competing with each other in undermining the democratic systems.

He accused the government of claiming paucity of funds to implement welfare promises made to farmers, women and students, while simultaneously pushing ahead with the Musi River project. He clarified that BRS was not opposed to the rejuvenation of the Musi, but was strongly opposed to massive corruption and demolition of houses.