Hyderabad, July 27 (IANS) Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao said on Monday that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s proposal to reduce the minimum age for contesting elections from 25 to 21 is merely an attempt to divert public attention.
Addressing a press conference, he alleged that the Chief Minister mooted the proposal out of fear that Gen Z youth would question the failure of the Congress government to release pending fee reimbursements of around Rs 12,000 crore to approximately 20 lakh students in Telangana.
On the Chief Minister’s proposal for lowering the age for contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Ramchander Rao stated that the minimum age of 25 came from the thought process of the Constitution makers. Dr B.R. Ambedkar was of the view that a legislator needs experience.
The BJP leader also suggested that if the Congress party is sincere in providing opportunities to youth, it should make a young leader its president in place of Mallikarjun Kharge. He said that the BJP has already appointed young leader Nitin Nabhin as the national president, thereby prioritising the youth.
He claimed that across the country, the youth trust the BJP, and this was the reason the party has established itself as the largest political force.
Rao said while the Congress government is busy preaching policies on youth empowerment to the nation, it has utterly failed the students and unemployed youth of Telangana. He alleged that the Congress party exploited the aspirations of Telangana’s students and unemployed youth to come to power.
The BJP leader accused CM Reddy of playing with the lives of students and youth. He said the Congress government has neglected to pay the pending fee reimbursements of around Rs 12,000 crore to approximately 20 lakh students.
He said the certificates of thousands of students are stuck in colleges as the government has not cleared fee reimbursement dues.
Rao claimed that the 17 government universities are in severe crisis due to shortage of funds and faculty. The government, which promised to allocate a thousand crores to universities, hasn’t released even a single rupee so far.
He also alleged that the Congress government failed to fulfil the promises of two lakh government jobs, unemployment allowance and Vidya Bharosa card. He said Congress had also promised free scooters to girl students, 75 per cent jobs for locals and a Youth Commission but forgot all the promises.
Ramchander Rao demanded that Revanth Reddy, who has failed in the education department, should take moral responsibility and resign as Education Minister. If there is genuine intent to provide opportunities to the youth, hand over the education department responsibilities to Congress youth MLA Mamidala Yashaswini Reddy and prove it, he said
–IANS
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