Hyderabad: Alleging that Congress was never democratic during its long rule in the country, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday stated that the BJP does not need Rahul Gandhi’s certificates on safeguarding the Constitution and its values.
Speaking after paying homage to Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur on his birth anniversary, he claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru became the country’s first Prime Minister, despite the majority of Congress members favouring Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
When the Janata government was formed, Indira Gandhi came to power again by splitting the Janata Party and making conspiracies, he claimed.
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“Congress wants to prove that no one other than the Nehru family has the ability and the right to govern,” he alleged.
Congress had “insulted and harassed” B R Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution, during his lifetime, including defeating him in elections and removing him from his ministerial post, he claimed.
While such is the history of Congress, its leader Rahul Gandhi talks about safeguarding the Constitution, he added.
“A person who does not understand the Constitution or the country’s political history, a person who has not read the Constitution—Rahul Gandhi does not have the moral right to criticise the BJP or talk about the Constitution,” Reddy said.
Congress alleges that the Constitution is in danger, but it will survive as long as there is democracy in the country, he said.
Pointing out how Congress had destabilised governments and “hurt” press freedom, he stated that the BJP does not need Rahul Gandhi’s certificate on the Constitution or respect for Ambedkar.
Paying glowing tributes to Karpoori Thakur, Reddy charged that Congress never respected non-Congress leaders and also leaders within the party who were not part of the Nehru family.
It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who honoured veteran leaders like Karpoori Thakur and P V Narasimha Rao, a son of Telangana soil, with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country, he said.
Asked about Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s visit to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the state government signed 20 MoUs for investments worth nearly Rs 1.79 lakh crore, Reddy said it is important that these investment proposals are realised and not just confined to paper.
Alleging that the Congress government is harassing builders and industrialists, he claimed that businessmen are leaving the state and preferring to do business in other states.
