Hyderabad: As the campaign for the upcoming elections to the city civic body gathers pace, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Wednesday slammed the ruling TRS over the recent floods here asking how 75,000 ''encroachments'' thrived in the state capital.
She also accused the TRS of having a "corrupt alliance" with the AIMIM. The families of those who sacrificed their life to realise the dream of separate Telangana was heartbroken that the city found itself submerged and witnessed the death of many people "all because of the corrupt alliance, the corrupt collaboration of convenience between MIM and TRS", she said.
Would it be possible that 75,000 encroachments thrived in the city "without the collaboration" between MIM and TRS? she asked. Opposition parties and others had blamed encroachments on tanks, drainages and others for one of the worst deluges the city witnessed.
The state capital's future depended on the conscientious choice to be made by the voters in support of BJP, she said, addressing reporters here ahead of the December 1 polls to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Irani also claimed that the state government had so far not submitted to the Union Home Ministry the final report on the extent of damage caused by the floods in October following torrential rains.
She said the GHMC budget had been scaled down and freebies worth thousands of crores have been promised. Referring to reports that some Rohingya Muslims had illegally got themselves added in the voter's list in the past, she said a state government which has even a modicum of respect for the rule of law would have undertaken an investigation to ensure such incidents do not happen.
A local TV channel had shown an "illegal immigrant" expressing gratitude to both the Chief Minister and MIM, she said, alleging it was a "scathing certification" that the "corrupt alliance" of MIM and the CM seeks to depend on illegal immigrants for their political gain. The BJP promised a clean city and transparent governance as espoused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said.
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"Why is that tactically the Old City has been denied the fruits of development... is the intention of AIMIM and the TRS combine is to deliberately keep the electorate devoid of development so that they can be politically exploited in elections, she asked.
On state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar''s remarks that "a surgical strike" would be conducted in the Old City to "send back Rohingyas and Pakistanis" and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi saying surgical strike should be against the Chinese, Irani asked, "would you not want to espouse the cause of striking against corruption".
The campaign for GHMC election has been witnessing a war of words between the ruling TRS and the BJP, which recently won a byelection to the state assembly and has set its eyes on winning the civic body
PTI
