Narayanpet: Congress party leaders strongly criticised BJP leaders, accusing them of indulging in opportunistic politics instead of serving the people.

Addressing a meeting held on Thursday at CVR Bhavan in the district headquarters, Congress leaders said that making baseless allegations against former DCC president Kumbham Shivakumar Reddy, who has earned public respect through selfless service, was nothing but political cheap talk.

They stated that for the past 20 years, despite holding no official post, Shivakumar Reddy has spent crores of rupees from his own funds for public welfare and regional development. His contributions include improvements in education, healthcare, schools, temples, and providing mud road facilities in remote rural areas.

Targeting such a leader for electoral gains reflects the BJP’s deteriorating political standards, they alleged.

Congress leaders recalled that Shivakumar Reddy played a key role in the implementation of the Narayanpet–Kodangal Lift Irrigation Project following the issuance of GO 69 after the Congress government came to power. They said he also stood by farmers who lost land for the project and successfully persuaded the Chief Minister to sanction a historic compensation of Rs 20 lakh per acre, an unprecedented decision in the state’s history.

They criticised BJP leaders for remaining silent when the hospital was shifted away from the town during the ten-year BRS rule, but now politicising the hospital issue with municipal elections approaching. The criticism against Shivakumar Reddy, they said, was aimed only at securing the municipal chairman post for a family member of a politically irrelevant leader. Congress leaders informed that responding to public demand, MLA Dr Chittem Parnika Reddy inaugurated the Urban Health Centre on January 1 at the old area hospital premises with all necessary facilities. Emergency medical services, free diagnostic tests, free medicines, and ambulance services have been made available. When patients faced hardship due to water scarcity at the district hospital, Shivakumar Reddy, as a social worker, arranged for a borewell using his own funds, they added.

They questioned whether BJP leaders had ever personally contributed even a single rupee for public welfare. They alleged that during the previous regime, BJP leaders colluded with their “dark allies” and looted Narayanpet in the name of development.

Under the Congress government, MLA Dr. Chittem Parnika Reddy has ensured the implementation of several welfare schemes and secured thousands of crores of rupees for education and healthcare development in the Pet constituency. The leaders said that around Rs 17 crore has been sanctioned for CC road construction in the municipality and that funds were allocated equally to all wards, including BJP wards, without political discrimination.

They alleged that fearing the people’s mandate in recent Sarpanch elections, BJP and BRS parties have entered into covert political understandings. Congress leaders asserted that despite all conspiracies, BJP will face a humiliating defeat in the upcoming municipal elections and expressed confidence that the Congress party will capture the Pet Municipality.

The meeting was attended by Market Committee Chairman Shiva Reddy, Block Congress President Sudhakar, Town Congress President MD Saleem, former Market Chairman Saraf Nagaraju, Market Director Boya Sharanappa, former MPTC Shankar, and Congress leaders Likhi Raghu, Polemoni Krishna, Venku Goud, Yusuf Taj, Palla Anil, Janardan, and others.