No patience for Congress MLAs to sit in House: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that he could understand why Congress camp was "disappointed" at the budget allocations as stated by its member K Rajagopal Reddy.

Despite the present economic slowdown, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not cut down allocations for schemes like Aasara pensions, farm loan waiver, Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima and understandably Congress camp was disappointed as they have no chance to corner the government.

Replying to the discussion on Irrigation Demand on behalf of the Chief Minister in Assembly on Tuesday, Harish stressed that people welfare schemes are on top of KCR government agenda and there was no going back on them even in challenging times.

As no Congress member was present in opposition benches when he was speaking, Harish minced no words in attacking them. He pointed out that some Congress members made tall claims in the BAC meeting asking budget session days should be increased as they want sufficient time, but the reality is otherwise.

"They speak baselessly and whatever they want when given the opportunity to speak. But they don't have the patience to sit in the House and listen to minister's reply on demands. This shows their commitment," he stressed.

Touching on irrigation, he said that Congress had constructed projects like Nagarjuna Sagar, SRSP and Jurala spread over 2 to 4 decades, but TRS government has shown that projects could be completed with a span of few months and years.

Bhakta Ramadasu project and Tummilla Lift Irrigation Scheme was completed in a record 9 months' time while the gigantic Kaleshwaram took just 3 and 1/2 years for completion, he stated.

Because of Congress inaction, several projects were referred to as pending projects and Congress leaders sought votes assuring that they would take steps to complete pending projects if voted to power. TRS government made several "pending projects" as "running projects" and completed them in the last five years, he said.

Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bhima, Koilsagar, Mid Manair and several other projects were expedited to bring lakhs of acres of farmland under cultivation.

He was also critical of Congress remark that Kaleshwaram project has become a tourist destination as no real benefits are seen on irrigation front.

To this, Harish responded that what was wrong if people, who earlier only went to Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam, are now showing interest to visit Kaleshwaram.

Several big personalities at the national level and from other States are heaping praises on Kaleshwaram project and also on novel schemes like Mission Kakatiya, but Congress leaders look to be on a different page, he slammed.