"You Call Yourself Secular But...": Congress Chief On KCR Skipping Opposition Meet

Hyderabad:

As many as 26 opposition parties came together to fight against the Modi government but Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who calls himself a secular has not attended even a single meeting, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge alleged on Saturday.

Addressing a public meeting at Chevella near Hyderabad, Mr Kharge said KCR never spoke about the unity of secular parties to defeat the BJP.

"You call yourself a secular party here. But, you are in cahoots with BJP from inside there," he said.

The AICC president said PM Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister question Congress party's contributions to the country.

Mr Kharge then went on to highlight the Congress party's contributions, including unification of princely states and making of the Constitution after Independence, irrigation projects initiated during Nehru era, nationalisation of banks and the promotion of computers during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister.

At the public meeting, he released a poster of the Congress party's 'SC, ST Declaration' - a set of 12 promises of the party - for the coming Assembly elections in Telangana.

"When Congress comes to power in Telangana, the 12-point SC/ST declaration will be implemented," the top Congress leader said.

According to the SC/ST Declaration, reservations for SCs will be increased to 18 per cent, while it will be hiked to 12 per cent in case of STs.

The party promised Rs 12 lakh financial help to SC and ST families in the state, besides special reservation in government procurements.

The Declaration also said reservations will be implemented for SC, STs in private educational institutions and in private companies availing incentives from the government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)