Union Minister Bandi Sanjay questions Telangana govt recommending Gaddar for Padma award

BJP MP questions Telangana Govt's choice of recommending Gaddar for Padma awardee, accuses Congress of corruption and poor implementation of their six guarantees

BJP Karimnagar MP and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar has questioned Telangana Government recommending late balladeer Gaddar for ‘Padma’ civilian award asking: “how can we give an award to Gaddar when he has ensured the death of many people by the naxalites”.

“What is Gaddar’s ideology? He is responsible for the deaths of scores of our cadre involved in democratic political struggles. He has sung songs about our cadre being killed and eulogised the killing of police personnel by the naxalites. Isn’t the government aware of it? We are not scared of anyone. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also conducted a probe on him”, he told the media at the BJP party office in Hyderabad on Monday (January 27, 2025).

The State Government should be “careful” in the sending names to the Centre and should ensure those chosen have the “necessary stature” to be eligible for the highest civilian awards, he said and also stated that the Centre does not choose award winners State-wise.

The BJP leader also accused the Congress government of having neither “commitment” nor “funds” to implement the six guarantees targeting the poor and other sections. “After making grandstanding announcement on grounding of four schemes on the Republic Day, people got cheated as the schemes were implemented in one village per mandal as if there are no poor eligible persons in other places,” he remarked.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar reiterated that the State Government will not be allowed to “rename Central welfare schemes” whether it is houses for the poor or provision of free food grains. “If the Congress Government is adamant about putting its own name, we will consider the possibility of reaching out to the beneficiaries directly. The State Government will be the loser then as we do not want to halt any scheme or make the poor suffer,” he said.

The Union Minister claimed that the Centre had disbursed close to ₹12 lakh crore in the last 10 years for Telangana under various development and welfare schemes. “There will be development if both governments join hands, but what is the government’s problem in displaying Prime Minister’s name or photo there. Please do not force our hand for direct beneficiary transfer. The Congress government can spend its own funds and give any scheme any name of its choice,” he said.

He also alleged the Congress government of being a “14% commission” regime where family members of the bigwigs are involved in “corruption”. The BJP leader also criticised the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime led by former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for not even taking up “10%” of the allotted 2.4 lakh houses for the poor sanctioned by the Centre.