'Family-ruled' TRS and Congress playing 'friendly match' in Telangana: Modi
Nizamabad, Nov 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday accused the TRS and Congress of perpetuating family rule and said the two parties were playing a "friendly match" in Telangana elections.
Reaffirming the BJP's commitment to inclusive growth, Modi, addressing his first election rally in the state, said vote bank politics has harmed development like "termites".
"The chief minister of Telangana and his family thinks they can get away with doing no work like the Congress....
They have adopted the style of the Congress which ruled for 50-52 years without doing anything. But that cannot happen now," he told an election rally in Nizamabad, as he took the poll battle to caretaker CM K Chandrasekhar Rao's turf.
Nizamabad is represented by Rao's daughter K Kavitha in the Lok Sabha.
Recalling that Rao had served as a minister in the UPA government, Modi said the TRS chief did his "apprenticeship" under the Congress.
"Congress and TRS are two faces of the same coin. Both parties are competing against each other on who tells more lies.
"TRS and Congress are family-ruled parties playing a friendly match in Telangana polls," he said, adding it was a "big joke" that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi assailed the TRS for being a "family party" at an election rally last week.
The prime minister said Rao's decision to go for early elections could give people an opportunity to "get rid of him before time".
He said Rao did not join Ayushman Bharat scheme under which the Centre would bear medical expenses of the poor to the extent of Rs five lakh a year because of his feeling of insecurity.
"This chief minister feels so insecure...he trusts astrologers, does puja, ties nimbu-mirchi (to ward of evil).
So when we introduced Ayushman Bharat Yojana, he decided not to join it. He feared people will reject him if Modicare comes into force. He did injustice to the poor people of the state," Modi said.
Amid reports that the Congress was preparing a manifesto that would envisage separate schools and hospitals for Muslims, Modi said the only Mantra that the BJP followed was "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" and was against vote bank politics.
"BJP has just just one Mantra- Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. We believe in inclusive growth. Vote bank politics has damaged development like termite," he said.
Development, he said, was a casualty wherever vote bank politics and politics of casteism, communalism and nepotism have flourished.
He said those who believe in development, building new India and new Telangana trust BJP most.
Accusing the TRS government of not keeping its promises made to youth, farmers, dalits, tribals and backward classes, Modi asked the voters to teach the party a lesson.
Modi said the chief minister had once asserted he would transform Nizamabad into a smart city like London but the place was still grappling with shortage of water, electricity and proper roads.
"The CM once said he would reach water of the Godavari river to each household or else will not seek votes. Has it happened? The man who cannot provide people with even water doesn't deserve to be given power," he said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
