KTR blasts Centre over bias against Telangana projects

​Hyderabad: TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday accused the NDA government at the Centre of showing step-motherly treatment towards Telangana projects. He was highly critical of Narendra Modi administration for not giving adequate fund assistance as desired to Telangana schemes - Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha and other irrigation projects. KTR pointed out to Niti Aayog recommendation for fund assistance of Rs 24,000 crore to Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha schemes which fell on deaf ears of the Centre.

Addressing media at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday evening, KTR said he was disappointed at Centre’s attitude because these two schemes got many awards and wide appreciation from several quarters and even many states evincing keen interest to replicate them. “When BJP government in Maharashtra requested for assistance for their irrigation projects, the NDA had allocated Maharashtra Rs 3,830 crore. However, no such assistance was provided for Telangana projects. They have different rules for BJP ruling states and non-BJP ruling states,” he alleged.  

KTR mentioned that Mission Bhagiratha got praises from Prime Minister himself and his Cabinet colleagues, Niti Aayog, 15th Finance Commission and other states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha besides winning HUDCO awards twice. 

He stated that Mission Bhagiratha model was being emulated in Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra states. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi made special mention of Mission Bhagiratha in his 'Mann Ki Baat' and applauded the efforts made by the Telangana government in water supply sector. 

“The BJP government has only reserved praises for Telangana. They never released funds. BJP government is biased towards Telangana only because they don’t see a political future in the state. We strongly condemn this behaviour,” said KTR.  Earlier, eminent persons like Rajendra Singh, Waterman of India, Nobel Prize awardee Kailash Satyarthi praised Mission Bhagiratha. Arvind Panagariya, former Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog wrote a letter to the Centre asking them to allocate funds to these projects, KTR reminded. 

“In the recent general election in Telangana, the BJP candidates lost deposit in 103 constituencies. If BJP continues to behave in the same manner, the party will lose deposits in 17 parliament constituencies as well,” said KTR. He also said that the TRS party leaders have been requesting the Centre to confer national project status to Kaleshwaram and sanction of a special grant for it. “It is unfortunate that the center does not respond to our demands,” he added.  

KTR said that BJP never tried to fulfil assurances promised to Telangana under the AP Reorganisation Act and they never responded on ITIR, Bayyaram steel factory or the Tribal University. He stated that the Centre was willing to emulate schemes introduced by Telangana government (like Rythu Bandhu) but is not ready to provide the state with funds. “We will request our MPs to continue to raise their voice in Parliament,” he added.