Kurnool Meeting: Rahul Promises Special Status, lashes out at Modi

With a view to intensifying the activities of Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, the president of AICC Rahul Gandhi arrived at Kurnool on Tuesday morning to address a public meeting in Kurnool district. During his speech, Rahul mocked BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being a party which failed to stay for Andhra Pradesh.

Rahul Gandhi, who paid his tributes to ex-CM of AP Damodaram Sanjeevaiah earlier in the day, kicked off his meeting saying, 'Congress Party has a very old and loving relationship with Andhra Pradesh.' 

'AP needs a person who believes in people of the state, who is honest and does not steal. And, Congress has produced several such leaders from this soil, like D Sanjeevaiah Ji, Kotala Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Ji, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Ji, and PV Narsimha Rao Ji. Like you, I am also proud of the great leaders that you have produced. And I am very confident this soil will produce more such leaders in coming days. Andhra Pradesh has always given a direction to this nation.' said Rahul.

Speaking about the need of the hour, Special Category Status, Rahul said: 'The Prime Minister of India made some commitments to the people of Andhra Pradesh. The PM promised that people of this state would be given special status for a period of five years. But, when this commitment was made in the parliament, the current Prime Minister's party (BJP) argued that is not good enough. Andhra Pradesh should get special status for 10 years.'

The AICC president mocked at Narendra Modi for having not taken 1 step forward in last four years to the commitment that the government has made to the people of AP. He further said, 'Not just a special status to AP, but Congress has promised national status for Polavaram project, an Iron industry in Kadapa, new railway zone for the state, international airport, metro rail projects & highways for capital, 12 national educational institutions like IITs & IIMs and Krishna & Godavari boards to tackle water issues. But, all the promises made to people of AP have been broken by this government and Prime Minister.'

He reminded Modi that Manmohan Singh made the commitment as Prime Minister of this country and took a swipe at him for disrespecting the people and leaders of AP by ignoring the rights of the state. 

Rahul also took potshots at PM Modi over various issues like demonetization, GST, unemployment, minimum support prices and making false promises. He promised 'the moment Congress comes to power in Delhi in 2019, the first thing we will do is we will give you special status. This is not a question of money, this is not a gift that government of India is going to give you - this is the debt that the people of AP are owned by Prime Minister of India. We are going to fulfill the commitment made to people of Andhra.'

He went on to attack BJP's Prime Minister for allowing bank defaulters Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi leave this country and blamed finance minister Arun Jaitley for his role in it. He criticized BJP government on Rafale deal and growing NPAs under his governance. 'I challenged Modi in the parliament over Rafale deal, he could not look in my eyes. The prime minister looked right, left, up and down, but did not look into my eyes. Just like he speaks to the people of Andhra, he does not look into your eyes.'

Throughout his speech, Rahul Gandhi's attack has been on Narendra Modi and the BJP government. In another attack, he said: 'while we did the loan waiver to the farmers of this nation, Modi waived off the loans to the richest 15 of this country. As we promised earlier, as soon as we come to power in 2019- we are going to waive off the farmer loans in this country. We're only interested in making the poor people of India self-sufficient.' He said people of AP should be cautious of BJP in coming polls.

'We need an India where minorities, dailts are not killed and beaten up mercilessly as do not want an India where another Rohith Vemula commits suicide,' said Rahul in a one-directional attack on BJP. However, he did not make any attack on state government 'TDP', and it has fueled for a rumor over 'friendly ties' between TDP and Congress in AP too.

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