KTR fires salvo at Centre over neglect of Telangana

New Delhi\ Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President and Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister K.T. Rama Rao alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was channelling national wealth primarily to his native state of Gujarat, while neglecting the development of Telangana. He claimed that the State has received meagre support from the central government, and he firmly ruled out any future alliances with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, considering them equal political rivals.

Following his meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the BRS leader criticised the lack of assistance from the central government for crucial development projects in Hyderabad. Despite Telangana’s significant growth and achievements over the past nine years, the contribution of the union government to Hyderabad’s development has been negligible. Minister K.T. Rama Rao highlighted the State government’s repeated appeals to the Centre for cooperation in various sectors’ growth within Hyderabad.

The Minister expressed his intention to meet Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, to present the State’s plan for the expansion of the Metro Rail from Lakdikapool to BHEL, and from Nagole to LB Nagar. Detailed Project Reports regarding these matters have already been submitted to the Central government. Minister K.T. Rama Rao pointed out the lack of response from the Centre despite the State government’s contribution to the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS). He urged the central government to collaborate with the State government to strengthen the public transport system in Hyderabad and appealed for support in expanding the Metro from Patancheru to Hayat Nagar. He also questioned the center’s decision to allocate Metro rail to nearly 10 small towns in Uttar Pradesh while neglecting the expansion of the Metro in Hyderabad.

Further, he mentioned the successful completion of various programmes under the Strategic Road Development Program (SRDP) and emphasized the need for approximately four acres of land from the Union Home Department to finalise the Rasoolpura project under SRDP. Minister K.T. Rama Rao added that a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been sought to address this issue.

Later, he criticised both the BJP and Congress for their significant failures in the country’s development over the past 75 years.