TRS flays BJP for tom-tomming merits of 'double engine sarkar'

Hyderabad: Targeting the BJP leaders on the 'double engine government', Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Monday said the growth rate in Telangana was more than the party-ruled States.

Addressing a press conference, along with MPs BB Patil, K Prabhakar Reddy, MLA G Sunitha, at TRSLP office, Rao was critical about the BJP's National Executive meeting and public meeting stating that there was more venom than subject in speeches of the leaders.

"The meeting of BJP has not only upset people of the State, but also the country as their only aim was power. There were 18 CMs and none of them said they had better schemes than Telangana", he pointed out.

"The per capita income of Telangana was Rs 2.7 lakh, whereas Uttar Pradesh, which has a double engine government, has per capita income of Rs 71,000. The single engine government has three times the per capita income of a double engine," said Rao.

He alleged the PM had spoke 'half-truths' in his speech in the Vijay Sankalp Sabha. He said the State government had requested the Centre to allocate the share in the Krishna water and also sought national project status to Telangana, but the projects in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were accorded national status.

Stating that Modi mentioned the Centre procuring one lakh crore worth paddy from Telangana, Rao said this was achieved due to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's vision in constructing the Kaleshwaram and other irrigation projects, extending the Rythu Bandhu, free power supply.

The TRS leaders demanded the Centre to release a white paper on jobs given during the last eight years. The BJP had promised to offer two crore jobs every year. Where are the jobs? The BJP has no moral right to question the TRS government on vacancies.

The Centre is closing public sector companies depriving jobs to people, Rao said. He said the State government had notified 1.5 lakh posts; already 1.35 lakh posts have been filled. The government was filling up 91,000 vacancies in different departments, Rao stated.

The minister said the Arogyasri scheme was far better than the Centre's Ayushman Bharat. While the State government spent Rs 980 crore on Arogyasri, the Centre spent only Rs 170 crore on Ayushman Bharat, which caters only to 26 lakh families.