Revanth Reddy: ‘What Rahul Gandhi said has nothing to do with private wealth… he wants to distribute govt wealth among needy… BJP trying to create confusion’

Months after leading the Congress to a stunning victory in the Telangana Assembly elections, Anumula Revanth Reddy, 54, has been spearheading the party’s campaign in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. He is one of the key leaders the Congress is banking on for boosting its prospects in South India. In a free-wheeling interview with The Indian Express, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy speaks on various burning issues ranging from the recent row over Rahul Gandhi’s pitch on caste census and redistribution to the North-South divide. Excerpts:

There’s a two-way strategy. One is implementing our guarantee schemes. We are implementing whatever we have promised to the Telangana people. Of the six major guarantees, we have implemented five schemes. It was a semi-final in which KCR (K Chandrasekhar Rao)’s party (BRS) was defeated and the Lok Sabha election is the final match. In the state election, we had defeated KCR and his politics. Now the final is here. Narendra Modi has ruled this country for 10 years, but he has never fulfilled what he has promised. The 2014 (AP) Reorganisation Act had promised Telangana certain things for its development, but the Centre has not implemented any of them. He (Modi) has never respected the resolutions made by the central government. I am trying to enlighten the people that Modi is anti-Telangana… he had abused the Congress for Telangana formation. It was the Congress that had passed the Telangana formation bill. After opposing the Telangana formation, how can he come here and ask for votes from the state?

In the state elections, it was KCR vs Congress. And in the national election the fight is against the national party and Narendra Modi. So, it is crystal clear that I have to fight against Modi