TRS Plenary disappointed people: Shabbir Ali

Hyderabad, April 28 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the 15th Plenary of Telangana Rashtra Samithi held in Khammam was completely disappointing for the common people.

Addressing a press conference, along with Deputy CLP leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, at Congress Legislature Party office here on Thursday, Shabbir Ali said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had spent crores of rupees on Plenary just to give an assurance to his workers that they would be given nominated posts. "The Chief Minister did not show any concern towards 4 crore people of Telangana who are suffering from severe drought and heat wave. He did not speak a single word on nearly 400 farmers committed suicide in recent past. He apparently looked concerned over accommodating his 4,000 workers on different posts. This is highly condemnable," he said.

Shabbir Ali said that the TRS Plenary confined itself to a single line resolution on drought. "The Supreme Court and High Court have pulled up both the State and Central Governments for their lethargic approach towards drought management. Instead of preparing a Contingency Plan to handle drought situation for the next two months, KCR is busy in the politics of encouraging defections in opposition parties. Ideally, he should have cancelled the Plenary and concentrated on managing drought crisis," he said.

"It is highly shocking that the ruling party leaders enjoyed about 2 lakh Chicken Biryani at Plenary while farmers and poor are unable to get a simple meal due to drought. State Government declare 'Drought Emergency' and depute a senior IAS officer as incharge for each of the 10 districts to implement the Contingency Plan. Relief measures should also be taken on war footing basis. NREGS should be implemented properly, especially in affected areas," Shabbir Ali said.

Shabbir Ali also ridiculed KCR's claim of Telangana becoming the top welfare State. Quoting latest statistics of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he said Telangana ranks 10th in terms of spending on social sector and even lags behind Andhra Pradesh which stand 6th in the list. Similarly, he said Telangana ranks 29th, top from bottom, on expenditure on education sector.

"CLP condemns case against Sonia Gandhi"

Deputy CLP leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy informed that the Congress Legislature Party, in its informal meeting held on Thursday, has passed a unanimous resolution condemning registration of case against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Augusta Westland helicopter issue. He said that the CLP has described the case as completely baseless and aimed at character assassination.

Ponguleti said similar attempts were made to tarnish the image of Shri. Rajiv Gandhi by his political rivals. However, all the charges were proved wrong in the Supreme Court. Similarly, he said all charges against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would be proved wrong. He said that the BJP-led NDA Government would not succeed in its designs to malign the image of Nehru-Gandhi family and the entire Congress rank & file, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, were behind Sonia Gandhi in this matter.