Senior Congress leader and AICC General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday, August 14, accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre of “discriminating” against opposition-ruled states in the allocation of semiconductor manufacturing projects.
Ramesh claimed that the Centre had recently approved four such projects, but imposed conditions that effectively shifted them from opposition-ruled states to BJP-ruled ones.
According to Ramesh, one company that had originally applied to set up its project in Telangana received approval only after agreeing to relocate it to Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, two proposed projects meant for Telangana were moved to Gujarat, while a planned factory in Tamil Nadu was also shifted to Gujarat under similar conditions.
“The Modi Govt has just green signalled 4 semiconductor manufacturing projects in the country. After doing detailed home work, a leading private company had submitted its application for a project in Telangana. This was approved on the condition that it relocates to Andhra Pradesh. Much earlier similar transfer of locations were forced through. 2 semiconductor manufacturing projects were compelled to shift their proposed location from Telangana to Gujarat. Similarly, another factory planned for Tamil Nadu got approval on the condition that it shifts to Gujarat. Need anything more be said? The PM speaks of competition among states that will make India strong. But if the umpire is so blatantly biased, the competition becomes a farce,” he said in a post on X.
Ramesh criticised the Prime Minister for speaking about healthy competition between states while allegedly practising “partisan allocation” of major investments.
“If the government continues to show this kind of bias, the idea of competition becomes laughable,” he wrote.
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