Telangana polls: Cong, BRS like two sides of same coin, alleges Goa CM Pramod Sawant

The Congress and the ruling BRS in Telangana are like two sides of the same coin, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant alleged on Monday.Sawant, who addressed a press conference here, said the BRS has failed to fulfill the aspirations of providing water, funds for development and job opportunities to its people -- the reason behind the Telangana agitation that sought and obtained a separate state.Indirectly, the Congress and the BRS is one and the same.

The Congress and the ruling BRS in Telangana are like two sides of the same coin, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant alleged on Monday.

Sawant, who addressed a press conference here, said the BRS has failed to fulfill the aspirations of providing water, funds for development and job opportunities to its people -- the reason behind the Telangana agitation that sought and obtained a separate state.

''Indirectly, the Congress and the BRS is one and the same. I would say they are two sides of the same coin. Because, the Congress -- known for corruption, commission and which does communal riots -- is the BRS,'' he alleged.

Leaders who win from the Congress would switch over to BRS, he claimed, and urged the Telangana people to elect the ''double-engine government'' of the BJP to realise the aspirations of ''water, funds for development and jobs'' and to build a new Telangana along with a ''new India''. Sawant alleged that the Congress was responsible for the death of 1,200 youth who sacrificed their life for the sake of Telangana and that the grand old party fulfilled the demand of statehood only after death of the youths.

By contrast, not even a drop of blood was shed when BJP formed states such as Chattisgarh and Uttarakhand, he said.

Claiming that the main demands behind the Telangana statehood agitation, including water, funds and jobs for the people of the region remain unfulfilled, he referred to alleged corruption in the Kaleswaram project, the leak of question papers of recruitment tests and the state's mounting debt during the BRS regime.

He highlighted the Centre's actions benefitting Telangana, including constituting a turmeric board, establishing a tribal university and taking up highways and other infrastructure projects.

He also said that the Centre has deposited funds for construction of houses for the poor with the state government but the BRS regime said it would construct two-bedroom houses. He said the chief minister should state how many houses have been handed over to the people so far.

Sawant also accused the BRS government of indulging in corruption over funds from the Centre as well as the state government's own funds.

No government other than the ''double-engine government'' of BJP can work on realising the ''aspiration of water, funds and jobs and also antyoday'' (welfare of the poor), sarvoday (welfare of all) and gramoday (welfare of rural areas),'' he added.

Replying to a query, he said he is ready to do a press conference debating Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the good work done by PM Narendra Modi government during the past nine years.