Telangana polls: BRS to declare manifesto on Oct 16

Hyderabad, Aug 21 (IANS) The Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which announced 115 candidates on Monday for the upcoming Assembly elections, will declare its election manifesto on October 16 at a public meeting to be held in Warangal.

Releasing the list of candidates for the polls slated to be held in November-December, BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that development will be the only agenda for the party. 

KCR, who is confident of BRS winning another term in the new state, promised that under BRS, Telangana will march ahead on the path of development and reach new heights. 

"For other political parties, elections are a game but for BRS it is a task," he said after releasing the list at 2.38 p.m., the auspicious time set by 'pandits'. 

KCR made it clear that BRS is going alone in the elections. 

"The question is irrelevant after the release of the list," he quipped when asked if BRS would have an alliance with the CPI and CPI-M. 

The BRS chief, however, said Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) will remain a friendly party for BRS. 

"They have been our friendly party since 2014 and our friendship will continue," he said. 

The BRS will be fielding candidates in seven seats held by MIM in Hyderabad but this will be a friendly contest. 

KCR, who exuded confidence that BRS will retain power by winning 95-105 Assembly seats in 119-member Assembly, also predicted that BRS and MIM will win all 29 seats in Hyderabad and old Rangareddy districts. 

KCR was confident that people of Telangana will bless BRS with another mandate to steer the state on the path of progress. 

He said Telangana state made rapid strides in a short span of time after its formation. The per capita income has increased from 1.20 lakh to Rs 3.12 lakh, surpassing large and developed states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. 

KCR pointed out that Telangana also stands number one in the country in per capita power consumption and it is the only state providing 24 hours quality power to all sectors. 

He appealed to the people to also back BRS to make a clean sweep in Lok Sabha elections. 

He exuded confidence that along with MIM (Hyderabad seat), BRS will bag all 17 seats. 

When asked about BJP exuding confidence of coming to power in Telangana, he called it a joke of the century. To another query, KCR said the Karnataka elections results have no relevance to Telangana. 

"People are now realising what is happening in Karnataka. There are power cuts even in Bengaluru which we don't expect. The Congress party has gone back on the election promises," he said. 

KCR recalled that in the 2018 elections, Congress party in Telangana had promised to waive farm loans up to Rs.2 lakh. 

"We had said that this is not practical. We promised to waive farm loans of Rs 1 lakh. People trusted us. The same will happen now," he said. 

The BRS chief also ridiculed the Congress party over its promise to increase social security pensions to Rs 4,000 per month and recalled that when in power it was paying only Rs 200. 

He also hinted that the government may increase the pension amount. He defended the announcements being made by the government ahead of the elections. 

"We are not math. We are a political party and will avail all facilities which are available, till the last minute," he said.