The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference.
When we wrote about KTR’s immature response to the Huzurabad election defeat of the TRS, little did we realise that his father and also CM of Telangana, Shri K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) will beat his son to it!
KCR called for a press meet on the night of November 7th. This press meet came in the backdrop of three significant events – the TRS loss in their stronghold Huzurabad; the reduction of petrol and diesel prices by the Government of India; the crisis in the procurement of paddy.
KCR began his press conference trying to explain how it is the Modi government’s fault (of course, right!) that the farmers of Telangana were not able to sell paddy. Earlier media reports indicated that KCR made a statement to the effect that suicide is the only option if you grow paddy. The opposition, including of course the BJP, took up this statement and made a big issue. KCR provides some statistics and his version of some meetings with the central government and begins to question the “irresponsible” statements of the state BJP President, Bandi Sanjay Kumar. KCR claims that Bandi Sanjay is asking the Telangana farmer to grow paddy and then began his incoherent rant.
Before explaining the multiple incoherent arguments of KCR, here are some things that KCR said in his press meet yesterday.
- I have so far not cared what Bandi Sanjay spoke. Many dogs will bark like this, so I just let him be. His stature is not the same as mine, so I never cared.
- Bandi Sanjay says that he is has a strategy to send me to jail. Do you have the dare to touch KCR? Why don’t you touch KCR and see what will happen? Will you be able to live if you send me to jail?
- Does Bandi Sanjay understand anything regarding policy? Does he know English and Hindi to understand all this?
- Bandi Sanjay says he will hold my neck and make me give money to the farmer. I will break his neck into 4 pieces!
- If you talk irresponsibly, I will cut your tongue!
- All BJP does is to incite communalism. China is pounding India in Arunachal Pradesh because of the BJP.
- We will incite fire in the country from tomorrow, to expose the BJP government.
- Union Minister Kishan Reddy is also speaking wrong things. This is not good, Mr Kishan Reddy. I also was a union minister. You should conduct yourselves with dignity.
- A reporter began his question to KCR with “Opposition is saying…”. KCR stops him and starts shouting at him. Who is this opposition? Humans or Donkeys? Don’t you have any brain to ask (their questions)?
KCR’s justification for all this language is that he kept quiet all these days despite the personal attack on him, but he cannot do it anymore because the BJP is trying to cheat the farmer of Telangana. KCR says he cannot tolerate any insult to Telangana but will tolerate any amount of personal insult. After the first 30 minutes, KCR jumped topics at such a frantic pace that it was difficult to grasp what topic he was speaking on.
KCR demanded that the farm laws be withdrawn. This is strange because just days after participating in the alleged Bharat Bandh in 2020; after some acerbic criticism of the farm laws in 2020, KCR announced that the Telangana state will implement the Farm laws! A tweet thread by the CMO explained why the farm laws are indeed a boon. Nearly a year after that, he now declares support for the protestors in Delhi, ignoring the very fact that he is happily implementing them in the state! KCR says that farmers in Telangana are doing very well because they are all buying cars! It’s strange that KCR spent so much time on farmer issues when he himself claims farmers in the state are doing really well.
KCR demanded that the centre withdraw all types of cess imposed on petroleum products. He accused the central government of taking the cess route so that they can cheat the states of their share in the divisible pool. On his part, he thundered that he hasn’t increased a single paisa VAT ever since he came to power. The confidence with which he uttered that statement would make you think that it is indeed true. For a moment you will even forget that KCR increased VAT on petrol from 31% to 35.2%; VAT on diesel from 22% to 27.5% in the year 2015. No reporter present there was able to question KCR on this. No media covering the press meet could flash this on their screens. TRS fans on social media were going berserk on SM users who were pointing this out.
KCR claimed that Telangana is the number 1 state in the country according to various RBI reports and therefore the BJP in the state is in no position to criticize him and his government. He claims that the only three schemes that the centre has given money so far are MNREGA, NHRM and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. You don’t even have to be a serious student of politics to know that there are many more central government schemes that get implemented all over the country. For the criticism that KCR isn’t utilizing the money the central government is giving, he claimed that the country is running because of the money Telangana is giving.
KCR’s U-turns are legendary. He called Ayushman Bharat a useless scheme in the Assembly. After about 2 years of calling it a useless scheme, he said that the state will implement Ayushman Bharat. He described the farm laws as honey-coated knives only to implement them in the state. His contrasting responses during COVID times are well documented. So, it will not be a surprise if he takes a U-turn on the VAT and reduces it.
Yesterday’s press conference (if it can be called that) clearly showed a rattled KCR. It’s been a while for him to have faced strong opposition in the state, despite a largely friendly media. While the nature of the electoral dividends of such a strong opposition will be known only after 2 years, it is clear from his press conference yesterday that he is not going to take criticism by staying calm anymore.
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