KCR grew rich by 17 times during agitation: Shabbir Ali

Hyderabad, May 5 (INN): Leader of Opposition Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao declare his assets and also disclose his sources of income.

Addressing a press conference along with MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy at Congress Legislature Party office here, Shabbir Ali said he was a bit surprised after hearing KCR's speech in the valedictory function of orientation programme of TRS workers on Monday wherein the TRS chief spoke about morality, ethics, commitment, corruption and good governance. "KCR appeared like a changed man when he spoke about morals, ethics and corruption. However, within 40 minutes after the conclusion of the event, KCR addressed a public meeting in Ibrahimpatnam which was organised by local MLA Manchireddy Kishan Reddy, who defected to TRS from TDP. Is it not unethical to promote defections in other parties?" he asked.

Stating that so far, KCR has lured 12 MLAs and 13 MLCs to his party-fold, Shabbir Ali blamed KCR of practising most unethical politics ever. "If KCR really believes in ethics and morals, then he should ask all 12 MLAs to resign and seek fresh mandate," he demanded.

Similarly, he said the Chief Minister should disclose all his assets which he accumulated since 2001 after floating TRS. "In his affidavit filed before the Election Commission, KCR disclosed the assets of Rs 85.98 lakh while contesting from Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in 2004 elections. His assets grew to Rs 15.15 crore by 2014 elections. KCR should explain as to how his assets and properties increased by almost 17 times in just one decade. Interestingly, KCR was not in power and was running an agitation during this period," he said.

Further, Shabbir Ali said KCR had constructed Telangana Bhavan and his family got stakes in Namasthe Telangana and T-News channel. All this happened during the agitation period which led the people to suspect that KCR family resorted to extortion. Therefore, he said that the TRS chief should explain the sources of funding for all these projects and also disclose the list of all donors and contributors. He said such a disclosure would only improve KCR's image among the people, if he is really honest.

Reacting to KCR's contention on commitment, Shabbir Ali said that the Chief Minister never honoured his words. Before elections he told the people that his son and daughter were well settled in the US and he too was not aspiring for any post. He also promised to make a Dalit CM and ensure that he would serve as a watchdog of Telangana State. However, almost all family members of KCR are now holding top positions and he went back on all his commitments.

With regard to Good Governance, Shabbir Ali said in a span of 11 months, the TRS Government faced at least 12 negative judgments from High Court. Recently, the High Court has pulled up State Government for mishandling affairs related to farmers' suicide, FAST and appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries among others.

He also ridiculed KCR's claim that he read nearly 80,000 books. He said that the Chief Minister should have used simple mathematics before making such a false claim. Even if KCR would have started reading the books from the age of 11 years, then he would need to read 14 hours every day to finish 80,000 books at an average of four hours per book. If KCR's claim on reading 80,000 books is true, then he truly deserves entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, he said.