We will form government at Centre in 2024: KCR

Hyderabad, April 14 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday exuded confidence of coming to power at the Centre in the next year's elections.

"We will form the government in 2024," he said while addressing a public meeting after unveiling 125-feet statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar in Hyderabad.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, claimed that his BRS is receiving tremendous response in Maharashtra. "The response is beyond our expectations. Tomorrow we will get a similar response from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and everywhere," he said.

He recalled that when he had left for Delhi in 2014, he had stated that he was leaving Andhra Pradesh and will return to Telangana. "With the same self-confidence, I am saying the next government in the country will be ours," he said.

KCR remarked that this may look far-fetched to their rivals but it all needs a spark to bring the change.

He vowed to follow on the path shown by Babasaheb Ambedkar and fight to keep the country in line until the last drop of his blood.

KCR said after the formation of the government, the Dalit Bandhu scheme will be implemented across the country, benefiting 25 lakh Dalit families every year.

Under the scheme being implemented in Telangana, every Dalit family is being provided Rs 10 lakh financial assistance to start economic activity of its own.

He said 50,000 Dalit families in Telangana have so far benefited under the scheme while another 1.25 lakh families will be benefited during the current financial year.

The Chief Minister announced that the state government will spend Rs 3 crore every year to give awards in the name of Ambedkar to those making valuable contributions in different fields at the national and state levels. He said a Rs 51 crore corpus for the award would be set aside immediately.

Stating that Ambedkar's ideals are still relevant, the BRS chief called for efforts to fulfill his dreams.

KCR said it was unfortunate that even 70 years after the Indian Constitution came into effect, Dalits from Kashmir to Kanyakumari remained poor.

"Parties are winning. One party comes to power after another but people are not winning. This situation should change. There is a need for people, especially Dalit intellectuals to ponder over this," he said.

The Chief Minister said Ambedkar's tallest statue has been installed close to the Secretariat so that the Chief Minister, ministers, secretaries and other staff coming are constantly reminded of the ideals and vision of the great leader.