KCR is nurturing separatist tendencies: Congress

Hyderabad, April 14 (Maxim News): Congress party has strongly condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s plan to establish Telangana State Administrative Service (TSAS) on the lines of All India Services (AIS).

“KCR has been openly displaying resistance to implement various Central Laws in Telangana State. TRS Government did not implement Land Acquisition Act, Right to Information Act, Right to Education Act, Food Security Act and even tried to come up with a State-version of many laws. Now KCR is planning to introduce a new Revenue Act and Municipal Act and come up with a new Urban Policy. He apparently dislikes the Constitution of India and moving in the direction of drafting a Constitution of Telangana. His moves are quite dangerous for the integrity and sovereignty of India. He must be stopped immediately,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said a in media statement on Sunday.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said KCR wants to establish Telangana State Administrative Service on the contention that State Government wants to fill up all cadre posts with officers who will be equivalent to those from Group-1 and Group-1B in the present structure. “The Constitution of India has clearly defined the distribution of legislative, administrative and executive powers between the Union Government and States of India. But KCR has questioned Government of India’s authority on multiple occasions. The proposed TSAS is an open challenge to the entire executive set up controlled by the Centre,” he said.

The Congress leader alleged that KCR was neither serious in improving the administration nor delivering good governance. He is only trying to dismantle the institutions and procedures which are essential part of a democracy. He said that the Chief Minister created 33 districts by splitting 10 districts in such a fashion that none of district, except Hyderabad, retained its original identity. This was not done to improve the governance, but to contain the powers of District Collectors and entire machinery. He said so far, the Centre has approved only 17 out of 33 districts. Therefore, there are literally two administrative maps of Telangana. While the Centre’s map shows only 17 districts, State map has 33 districts. This confrontation is not good in a federal form of government, he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said if KCR was serious in improving the governance by bringing the TSAS, then he must fill nearly 2.5 lakh vacancies in the government departments. He said as per the data furnished by State Government in March 2018, the Revenue Department had 4,244 vacancies and none of them have been filled so far. Similarly, of 2,612 vacancies in Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department, the selection process has been completed only for 942 posts. Therefore, before bringing new Revenue and Municipal Acts, TRS Government must first fill up those vacancies, he said.

The Congress leader said KCR has never shown any respect for the Constitution. “KCR has ridiculed the Constitution by openly violating the Anti-Defection Law. In his last term, he made 25 opposition MLAs defect to TRS and this time too nearly a dozen MLAs who got elected on the symbol of other political parties defected to the ruling party. KCR is now preparing to draft his own Constitution so that he could violate it or modify it whenever he like to suit his political needs,” he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy also alleged that KCR has no respect for Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who drafted the Constitution of India. He said KCR never attended the official celebrations of birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar. Further, he sought to know the status of 125-feet statue of Dr. Ambedkar which KCR had promised to install in the city. The decision was announced on April 8, 2016 and the statue was to be unveiled on April 14, 2017. “Today is April 14, 2019 and we see no signs of the promised statue,” he said. (Maxim News)