Rahul Gandhi promises caste census in Telangana

Bhupalpally (Telangana): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised that once voted to power in Telangana, the party will undertake a caste census in the state.

Addressing corner meetings during Vijayabheri Yatra in Bhupalpally district on Thursday, he described caste census as the biggest issue in the country and questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on the issue.

Rahul Gandhi, who was campaigning in Telangana for the second day, said the caste census will be like an X-ray which will determine if the population of backward classes is only five per cent in the country. “OBCs have control of only five per cent of India's budget. I want to ask if the OBC population in the country is only five per cent,” he asked.

The Congress leader said the party has already ordered caste census in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. “If our party comes to power in Telangana, the first thing we will do here will be Telangana’s X-ray,” he said and promised that Congress will provide a government of the poor, farmers and workers.

Rahul Gandhi said that the ‘X-ray’ will also reveal how much money of people of Telangana was looted by the family of the Chief Minister.

The Congress MP alleged that there is rule of only one family in Telangana. He also stated that Telangana has the highest corruption among all states in the country. He remarked that the Telangana model of corruption is being exported to other states.

He said during the movement for Telangana state people had hoped that the new state would usher in people’s rule but after formation of the state Chief Minister distanced himself from people. "You had the dream of people’s rule but you found one family ruling you,” he said.

He said if CM KCR was really fighting against the BJP, why there was no inquiry by CBI, ED or any other central agency against him.

“BJP intimidates opposition with cases. Since I fight the BJP, they booked 24 cases against me. They cancelled my Lok Sabha membership and snatched my house. It makes no difference to me. My fight is an ideological fight against the BJP and the RSS,” he said.

Stating that the next month’s assembly election is a fight between ‘raja’ and ‘praja’, he predicted that BRS will be defeated in the next month’s elections.

He reiterated that BRS, BJP and AIMIM are together. He alleged that BRS extended support to the BJP in Parliament on all issues.