Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusations against the Congress as Muslims and Maoists party, and asked whether the latter were not part of this country.

He termed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the “British Janata Party” and accused it of following a divide and rule policy isolating Muslims, Maoists, and other sections of society despite all communities being equal citizens of the country. Every section has some aggressive elements and isolating them based on faith is not the solution.

“The BJP’s ideology is to eliminate those who oppose them. Our ideology is to persuade them and bring them into mainstream society,” he said defending the Congress policy of bringing the Maoists into the mainstream.

Referring to Maoist surrenders in Telangana, the Chief Minister said 818 Maoists had surrendered in the State, which he claimed was unmatched anywhere else in the country. The surrenders included 22 State committee members and 326 weapons that include sophisticated AK 47 rifles, SLRs, LMGs and INSAS rifles.

He said Telangana should be appreciated for bringing Maoists back into mainstream life and reiterated the Congress policy that “bullet is not the solution, ballot is.”

He further said even senior Maoist leader Ganapathi should join mainstream society and assured government support, including medical and financial assistance, for those surrendering.

In fact, the Congress has designed welfare programmes aligning with on the Communists and Maoists political ideology of land distribution to poor, housing, minimum wages act, free power to farmers and minimum support prices for food grains. “The mass surrenders are a result of those policies.”

Modi’s ‘Mujhse Judo’ statement is about State’s welfare

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s statement ‘Mujhse Judo’ (join me) made in Hyderabad on Sunday, Mr. Reddy said there was nothing political about it, and it was to do with Telangana and Centre working together.

“The Prime Minister said the Centre would work together with Telangana for development. He spoke about taking the State forward, not me personally,” he clarified.

The Chief Minister also said he had requested the Prime Minister’s support in transforming Telangana into a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2034, to which Mr. Modi reportedly responded positively.