Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy addressing a press conference at his residence in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Ministers Damodar Rajnarsimha, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Seethakka, Ponnam Prabhakar, D Sridhar Babu; adviser to government Vem Narender Reddy and Khairatabad District Congress president Rohin Reddy are also present.
Describing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the ‘Naidu-Nitish Dependent Alliance’, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy described the Union Budget as ‘Kursi Bachao Budget’ with the greatest ever injustice done to Telangana in the Union Budget.
Reacting to the Union Budget presented in Parliament on Tuesday, he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet again showed his ‘inherent hatred’ towards Telangana and the discrimination in the Budget reflected it. “Mr. Modi showcased his dislike for Telangana with his utterances against Telangana formation in Parliament but never thought it would reflect in such huge discrimimation,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the Prime Minister appears to have overlooked that A.P. Reorganisation Act was meant for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and not just one State. He said he had nothing against Andhra Pradesh getting funds under various projects but ignoring even the mention of the word Telangana in the Budget cannot be accepted. “PM’s slogan of Sabka Saath Sab ka Vikas proved to be bogus,” he said.
“I have met Prime Minister three times along with Deputy Chief Minister and officials seeking funds under various heads but never thought Telangana would be ignored totally,” he said. There are no funds for the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project while the Polavaram project was given funds. There is no mention of the Musi Riverfront Development Project, Regional Ring Road or the ITIR. None of the pending assurances of the Reorganisation Act have been met for the last 10 years. “The previous BRS government did not even ask for the projects and while the Congress sought those promises to be fulfilled, the Centre chose to ignore,” he added.
Demanding that the Centre revise the budget allocations and sanction funds to Bayyaram steel plant, Kazipet coach factory, Palamuru project, Metro Rail expansion and Musi development project, he warned that the BJP would suffer politically in Telangana for the ‘discrimination never seen till date’.
Mr. Reddy said the Congress MPs would raise the discrimination in Parliament and also use other fora to register their protests. “We will use all the fora and methods to express our rejection of the Centre’s discrimination,” he said and requested Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu to ensure a discussion on the subject in the Assembly.
He said the Assembly will discuss the discrimination and pass a resolution on its disapproval of ignorance of Telangana’s just demands and send it to Centre. “We will expose the shady deals entered by some political parties who are conspiring to unite,” he said hinting at the BJP-BRS alliance.
KCR must come to Assembly
The Chief Minister suggested that Bharat Rashtra Samithi chief and Leader of the Opposition K. Chandrashekhar Rao attend the Assembly and participate in the discussion on the rights and funds to Telangana. “Or else it would be construed as KCR and Modi are in collusion.”
