Coming days belong to regional parties; Modi will not get majority to form govt in 2024: KCR

Adilabad/Nizamabad (Telangana), Nov 16 (PTI) The coming days belong to regional parties, BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Thursday, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not get a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and instead a coalition of parties would form the government at the Centre. Speaking at a rally for the November 30 assembly polls and listing out the alleged failures of the ruling party at the Centre, particularly with regard to Telangana, Rao forecast that in next year's general election the BJP would fail to get a majority. He highlighted the likelihood of an alliance of regional parties forming the union government.

Reiterating his remark that the BJP and the Congress are not too different from each other, Rao on Thursday said it is a "waste" to vote for those parties.

"The BJP, which provokes communal fanaticism should be dumped in the garbage. Even if you give one vote to BJP, it is a waste. If you vote for the Congress, it is further waste," KCR said, slamming both parties.

He attacked the BJP, asking why one should vote for a party that has not allotted a single medical college or Navodaya school to Telangana.

“If you vote for the BJP, it...is a wasteful exercise. People should think about it. I am requesting people to think about it," he said.

Pointing to the BRS's secular credentials as opposed to the BJP, he asserted, "As long as KCR is alive, it will remain secular." He also took on the Congress over its purported concern for minorities, stating that the national party that ruled for 10 years before Telangana was formed in 2014 spent only Rs 2,000 crore towards minorities' development whereas the BRS government gave as much as Rs 12,000 crore in the past decade.

Requesting people to vote for the BRS candidate, Rao said the party needs the people's support not just in the upcoming assembly polls but also in the 2024 general elections as well.

"The coming days belong to regional parties. You can write it down. In the next elections, Modi will not get a majority. A coalition government will come," he predicted.

Buttressing his point about the prospects of regional parties, he recalled that when Telangana was formed, the situation was chaotic, with people migrating to other places for want of basics such as proper drinking water or irrigation facilities -- and it was the government of the BRS that set everything right.

From establishing irrigation networks to supplying drinking water, supporting farmers with investments and providing them with 24-hour power supply, to raising the per capita income of the state to Rs 3.17 lakh -- the top position in the country -- the BRS government's achievements were highlighted by KCR. Reminding the people about the Congress's actions of the past, Rao said the grand old party had delayed the formation of Telangana for 15 years and even tried to split the BRS (then TRS) party.

He also cautioned that while the Congress was promising to implement six poll guarantees, its leaders consider Rythu Bandhu investment support to farmers as wasteful expenditure of taxpayer money and plan to cut down free power supply for farmers from 24 hours to three hours a day.

KCR also warned that Congress's alleged plan to "dump" the Dharani integrated land management portal would bring back the menace of the middlemen regime.

Speaking about the poll assurances of the BRS, the chief minister said that the payments under the Rythu Bandhu scheme will be raised to Rs 16,000 gradually from the existing Rs 10,000, and similarly social pensions will be increased to Rs 5000 in a phased manner.

The welfare schemes will continue only if the BRS is voted to power again, he told the people, appealing for their votes. PTI GDK ANE