Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said a corrupt chief minister had crushed the Telangana dream, accusing K. Chandrashekar Rao of “enriching his own family” instead of working to fulfil the people’s aspirations.

“Telangana could have been the model state. People fought for it thinking their dreams would come true,” the Congress president, who addressed three rallies in the election-bound state, said.

“But the chief minister indulged in corruption from the very beginning. He crushed the people’s dream while enriching his own family.”

Rahul added: “The chief minister redesigned projects to make money. He used the scheme named after Ambedkar — he changed the name of the project from Babasaheb Ambedkar to Kaleshwaram Project and raised the cost of the project from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore.

“The Rajiv Sagar Project and Indira Sagar Project, with an original estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore, were redesigned to cost Rs 12,000 crore with the sole objective of giving undue benefits to his family and other relatives while denying the tribals, farmers, workers, Dalits and minorities their rights.”

Rahul compared Rao to the Prime Minister, saying “both Narendra Modi and KCR rely on lies and false promises”.

“The chief minister promised one job to each family, three acres of land to every SC/ST family, a two-bedroom house to the homeless, 12 per cent reservation to the STs, drinking water to every household — but delivered none,” he said.

“The same way, Modi promised Rs 15 lakh to every account, two crore jobs every year, etc, and didn’t fulfil any promise.”

Although Rahul did not accuse Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) of having a tacit understanding with the BJP, an allegation state Congress leaders have made, he hinted at a rapport between them.

“When Modi failed to dilute the land acquisition act, he directed BJP-ruled states to weaken the provisions. In Telangana, KCR almost killed the act,” he said.

“You can take it from me: both Modi and KCR will be thrown out of power in the next elections.”

In other election-bound states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Rahul has desisted from attacking Modi and the BJP on communal politics, focusing instead on the Rafale deal and corruption. But in Telangana, he repeatedly accused the government of betraying the tribals, Dalits and minorities.

He charged the BJP with using divisive politics to create disharmony. Telangana has 13 per cent Muslim voters.

The TRS, which is friendly with the BJP, has been accused of advancing the Assembly polls to delink them from the general election. The Congress has suggested that Rao plans to tie up with the BJP for the parliamentary polls after fooling Muslim voters by attacking Modi during the Assembly election campaign.

Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, a predominantly Muslim party, is a TRS ally. But Owaisi’s influence is restricted to Hyderabad and the Congress hopes to gain the support of the minorities in the rural areas.

Rahul announced a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers, a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 and better farm prices, particularly for cotton, if the Congress came to power. He, however, insisted he would not make false and unrealistic promises like Modi and KCR.