President's address silent on key TS issues, says Uttam

New Delhi: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the address of President of India Ramnath Kovind to joint session of Parliament on Thursday was a big disappointment for the people of Telangana State.

Speaking to media persons at AICC headquarters here, Uttam said there was no assurance by the Centre in the President's address on fulfillment of promises made for Telangana in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Citing the mention of Telangana in the President's address to Parliament in 2004, he said that the Congress-led UPA government had given its commitment on granting statehood and subsequently, fulfilled it despite several hurdles and sacrifices.

He said that the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi lacks similar commitment or sincerity towards the Telangana State.

"Telangana did not get its due share from the Centre in the last 5 years. This time too, the BJP govt gave clear indications that honouring commitments to Telangana as per AP Reorganisation Act was not its priority, he said.

Uttam said that the President's address did not touch upon crucial issues. There was no mention of rising unemployment, deteriorating conditions of public health or farmers' suicides. "President's address should have been apolitical.

But the President's address was full of praise for BJP, without naming it," he said.

Further, he said although the President listed out various schemes being implemented by the Centre for farmers, he did not mention anything about farmers' suicides. "More than 1.5 lakh farmers commit suicides every year. There was no mention of how the government proposes to stop farmers' suicides," he said.

Further, he said no roadmap or even outline was given on steps to be taken to double the income of a farmer by 2022. "None of the promises made to farmers by the Modi govt in its first tenure were honoured.

The Swaminathan Commission's recommendations remained unimplemented and even now, doubling of farmers' income appears to be 'jumla' and not a concrete plan," he said.

"President has rightly said that this year, events to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, being held around the world, will promote India's 'Thought Leadership'.

However, it is unfortunate that some of the supporters and sympathisers of Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse's are sitting on treasury benches in the 17th Lok Sabha," he said.

However, he said President Kovind did not speak about death of over 150 children in Muzaffarpur of Bihar. "Public hospitals under PM Modi's regime are still not equipped to deal with cases like acute Encephalitis that killed over 150 children in Bihar," he said.

Uttam said that the Congress party would raise the public issues in Parliament and reiterated his vow to fight with the Centre to get due share for Telangana State.