Telangana BJP to hold ‘Maha Dharna’ against Congress government

The Telangana BJP has announced that it will hold a large-scale protest, the ‘Maha Dharna,’ on December 7, accusing the Congress government of failing to deliver on its major election promises. The date also marks two years of the Revanth Reddy-led administration. BJP state president N. Ramachander Rao visited Dharna Chowk at Indira Park on Thursday to review preparations and called on people to attend in large numbers. He alleged that the Congress had “misled the public” by not fulfilling its six guarantees and dozens of other pledges made during the elections.

The BJP has also intensified its opposition to two recent decisions of the state government: the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy and the proposal to merge 27 urban local bodies near the Outer Ring Road into the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Earlier this week, the party submitted a memorandum to Governor Jishnu Dev Varma seeking an immediate halt to the industrial lands policy, which the BJP claims could facilitate irregularities involving more than 9,200 acres of high-value land. Party leaders argued that the policy opens the door to political and real estate misuse.

Responding to these allegations, Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu clarified that the new policy would not affect land leased out by the government. Instead, it applies only to industrial land that is privately owned, requiring owners to pay a conversion fee if they wish to change the land’s usage. He emphasized that the policy contains no provision for transferring rights over government land or converting such land into freehold property.

According to the government, the primary aim of the policy is to bring thousands of acres of unused industrial land back into productive use. Over the past several decades, many industries within Hyderabad have shut down, relocated, or fallen into disuse, leaving large parcels of land idle. Officials argue that under the city’s current growth pattern, land within the Outer Ring Road has become more suitable for commercial and residential development than for industry. The new policy gives landowners the flexibility to adapt to these changing realities while generating substantial revenue for the state through conversion fees.

The government maintains that this is a reform intended to modernize land use and support planned urban development. It argues that GHMC expansion, upcoming ring-road proposals, and rapid metropolitan growth all require a more flexible approach to land utilisation. While the BJP labels the initiative a “land sale,” the government insists it is a rational step to streamline urban expansion and enhance state revenue.