Digvijay Singh seeks Yagnam expenses details

Hyderabad, Jan 12 (INN): AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday demanded that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao disclose details of expenditure on 'Maha Ayutha Chandi Yagnam' and the sources through which the funds were mobilised.

Addressing an election meeting at Chintal Basti in Khairtabad Assembly constituency here, Digvijay Singh alleged that nearly Rs. 7.5 crore were spent on the Yagnam. He said he was not against the conduct of Yagnam, but the Chief Minister must disclose how he arranged those funds. He also alleged that KCR did not conduct the yagnam for the welfare of Telangana State, but to gain political strength. He said spending Rs. 7.5 crore on Yagnam while ignoring hundreds of farmers' suicide was highly regrettable.

Accusing KCR of ruining the Telangana State, Digvijay Singh said only Congress party could save the State from KCR and TRS. He said except for KCR family no one benefitted due to formation of Telangana. He reiterated that it was AICC President Sonia Gandhi who granted statehood for Telangana. He said KCR, along with his family members, met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and thanked them for their role. However, he said KCR ditched the Congress party and tried to take entire credit for same. "Congress gave Telangana and only Congress can save it," he said.

Digvijay Singh also accused KCR of ruling like a Nizam while treating State's exchequer as personal fiefdom.

He also slammed Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen for switching loyalties to TRS after the 2014 elections. He said all the assets, including colleges, being run by the MIM were given by the previous Congress regimes. He asked MIM Presient Asaduddin Owaisi whether or not Congress party and its leaders played a major role in generation of those assets. Accusing MIM of indulging in emotional and communal politics, he said instead of speaking on issues like water, electricity and sewerage, MIM leaders seek vote by stating that "Islam was in danger". He said MIM leaders were functioning against the basic teachings of Islam. He said interest is 'haraam' in Islam. But MIM is running Darulsalaam Cooperative Bank which does interest-based transactions.

Digvijay Singh alleged that MIM went to Maharashtra and Bihar at the instance of BJP President Amit Shah and Shiv Sena. Further, both the MIM MLAs abstained from the House when Maharastra's BJP CM sought Vote of Confidence. He said that the MIM did not utilise or misused the funds sanctioned by the previous Congress Governments for the development of Old City.

He also slammed the BJP Government at the Centre for rising prices of essential commodities. He said that the benefit of drop in crude oil prices was not passed on to consumers.

He advised party leaders to focus on door-to-door and social media campaign.

TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Leaders of Opposition K. Jana Reddy and Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other senior leaders addressed the meeting.