Hyderabad: Escalating the attack ahead of the urban local body elections, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday accused his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy of pursuing divisive politics for electoral gains, warning that such policies posed a danger to social harmony.Addressing public meetings at Sirpur Kagaznagar and Mancherial as part of the BJP’s municipal election campaign, Fadnavis alleged that the Congress govt in Telangana was indulging in appeasement politics by dividing people along religious lines and weakening the social fabric. He said Revanth believed he would remain in power indefinitely by appeasing minorities, and said such politics had historically led to national division. According to him, the Congress party followed the same path even before independence, which ultimately resulted in the country’s partition. ‘Seeds of division’“The Congress govt in Telangana is adopting the same divisive policies and dividing people on religious lines, and giving reservation to people from other religions by taking it away from SCs and STs. The party in power is sowing the seeds of division,” he alleged. The Maharashtra CM further alleged that successive BRS and Congress govts had pushed Telangana from a revenue-surplus state into a debt-ridden one due to corruption and mismanagement. Drawing a contrast, he said BJP-ruled states had witnessed rapid development under ‘double-engine’ govts. Fadnavis said that as Maharashtra CM, he had extended support to the then BRS govt for irrigation projects, including Kaleshwaram, after former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao approached him in 2015. While these projects helped expand irrigation in Telangana, he alleged that Maharashtra farmers who lost land to the projects were not adequately compensated by either the BRS or Congress govts. He also pointed out that the Centre was funding urban development through schemes such as AMRUT and Smart Cities. BJP state president N Ramchander Rao said the party would take full responsibility for implementing central schemes if voted to power in Telangana’s municipalities. “We will take strict measures to ensure funds received from the Finance Commission were not diverted by the state govt and are used solely for comprehensive urban development,” Rao said. ‘Tax terrorism by T govt’Referring to Revanth’s admission that the state govt lacked funds and struggled to pay salaries, Rao questioned how such a govt could develop urban local bodies. He also warned of what he termed ‘tax terrorism’, alleging that the govt planned to burden citizens with higher taxes. Rao accused the Congress govt of neglecting Backward Classes, alleging that while the chief minister spoke about appointing chairpersons from minority communities, he failed to do justice to OBCs. Appealing to voters to support the BJP, he said the party alone could protect temples and temple lands in the state, and called on people to back the party under the slogan ‘Save Telangana-Vote for BJP’.
