Hyderabad: Calling the Union budget 2024 as a “Kursi Bachao Budget of the Naidu-Nitish Dependent Alliance (NDA),” Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy alleged that it was a quid pro quo arrangement, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave enough funds to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, while ignoring the needs of several other states, especially Telangana.
Addressing media at his residence in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Revanth stated that while PM Modi has “violated” the rights of Telangana by not giving any funds for projects assured to the state in the AP Reorganisation Act, Union minister for coal and mines G Kishan Reddy has “bowed his head like a slave before Modi while injustice” was being meted out to Telangana.
“It is not just discrimination, but looks like the Centre is acting in vengeance against Telangana. In the entire budget copies, not a mention of the word Telangana could be seen, as if the Centre has imposed a ban on the word,” he observed.
Revanth also asked Kishan Reddy to “take responsibility” and step aside from his ministerial berth if he couldn’t protect the interests of the state. He also directed state legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu to initiate a discussion in the Assembly on Wednesday on the issue of funds not allocated to Telangana. Revanth Reddy also invited Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to be part of the debate if he was “not a stooge of Modi like Kishan Reddy”.
Calling “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” slogan penned by the BJP as ‘bogus,’ the Telangana chief minister questioned whether the state wasn’t part of the Centre’s claims about Viksit Bharat by 2047.
“If BJP’s goal of seeing India grow as a USD 5 trillion economy is true, it needs to understand that Hyderabad is one of the five major cities in the country. By expanding the Metro rail, building the regional ring road (RRR), Musi riverfront development and establishing the ITIR corridor in the state- development will happen, investments will come, and jobs will be created for the youth. But there was no talk of any of these projects and no funds were allocated,” Revanth Reddy noted.
Making it clear that he wasn’t opposed to the Centre using the pretext of the AP Reorganisation Act to fund major projects in AP like building the capital Amaravati, Polavaram project and funds for its backward districts in the Union budget, he questioned why none of the constitutional guarantees given to Telangana in the Act were fulfilled.
He questioned why no funds were allocated to Telangana for the construction of the Central tribal university, Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), Bayyaram Steel Plant and Kazipet Coach Factory.
“The people of Telangana gave 38 per cent votes to BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, and elected 8 BJP MPs from here, so that Modi could retain his Prime Minister’s chair. Instead of being thankful, BJP acted in vengeance,” he said. Announcing that the Congress MPs would garner support from other party MPs including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other southern states to lodge their protest in the Parliament on Wednesday, Revanth said that the state government has chalked out a plan to demand and secure the funds for the state.
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