Hyderabad: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that Telangana’s loans were out-of-budget and will lead to problems in the future. She also said that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) was unfeasible.
The Union minister spoke at a press conference with state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar in Hyderabad. Interestingly, reporters from news media that are known to be in support of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), such as Namastey Telangana, Telangana Today and T News, were asked to leave the venue. “Everyone can ask questions, but some channels will not be answered,” said the BJP chief.
Sitharaman took questions from the present reporters, many of whom asked for her reaction to state finance minister Harish Rao’s statements on Friday. Responding to Rao’s statements about the amount of money the centre provides for public distribution of rice, she said that central and state governments have their own certain shares to pitch in for any government scheme.
Earlier, Sitharaman had controversially demanded the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s images outside the PDS centres. TRS leaders were quick to criticise her demand, with Harish Rao calling it ‘laughable.’
Sitharaman took her stand on Saturday, and stated, “Previously, there was no accountability. A scheme would be designed such that the Centre pays 60% and the state pays 40%. The state would not pay their share and would demand more money from the Centre. Now, The Modi government has digitised everything, and taxpayers’ money is not wasted anywhere. Can we not ask for credit where it is due?” she asked.
Harish Rao had said that Telangana contributes to the nation’s income, but the state is not demanding that chief minister KCR’s photos be placed in other states.
In response, Sitharaman said, “Twist it however you want in a cynical way. 55% of Telangana’s income comes from Hyderabad. If any project is unveiled in Adilabad, are you posting pictures of the city’s MP there?” she demanded to know.
When told that the state IT minister KTR had called her behaviour ‘appalling’ when she spoke sternly with the Kamareddy district collector as the Prime Minister’s flexi was not displayed at the shop. “Was I at any stage discourteous, unruly or unparliamentary? I asked him to find out details and let me know if he was unaware. It is completely my business if I chose to ask the official questions,” stated the union minister.
I said clearly that Telangana had not joined Ayushman Bharat until 2021, she clarified on her earlier statement that Telangana did not partake in the central scheme.
She said that the cess the central government collects always comes back to the states. “It is one thing to have your debt under the FRBM limits, and another to have out-of-the-budget borrowings which you incur when the revenue board of a public sector undertaking under the state govt takes a loan.
“It is outside the budget. They have a provision to borrow, but it is not in the budget. Telangana is accepting that they are beyond the limit,” the union finance minister said. She also added that the debt incurred by the Kaleshwaram project was 8.25% to 10.9%, and was an unfeasible, unsustainable debt.
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