The Congress questioned Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao’s silence on the Union budget, which they said had ignored Telangana on every aspect including the promises made in the A.P. Reorganisation Act.
Congress working president Bhatti Vikramarka and senior leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy held separate press conferences and charged the Chief Minister with surrendering to the Central Government. Mr. Shashidhar Reddy pointed out that the TRS had demanded national project status to Pranahita Chevella during the Congress government and now was silent on seeking the same and instead re-designed project and named as Kaleshwaram project.
Mr. Reddy said he was directly charging the Chief Minister with motives on this and if the CM had guts he can be arrested for the allegations. He said the re-designing was done to ‘loot’ Telangana money as the Central Government would take 90% of the project if it was declared a national project. He said the Government should wake up at least now and bring pressure on the Central Government.
On the Congress affairs, Mr. Reddy said it was unfortunate that the Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee (GHCC) was headless and it was not a good sign. “I don’t mind even if Danam Nagender continues in the post and the TPCC president should clear the confusion.”
At a separate press conference, Mr. Vikaramarka also wanted the Chief Minister to respond on the raw deal given to the State in the budget. He alleged that KCR seems to be fearing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for some reasons and he should come clean on this. “People want to know if Mr. Modi is threatening KCR,” he said. Mr. Vikramarka also targetted the BJP saying that out of the ₹ 25 lakh crore Central budget all that Telangana got was ₹650 crore. The BJP leaders should answer whether or not the party considered Telangana a part of this country? he asked.
He said the Central Government has not implemented the Health Insurance announced in 2017-17 budget and now it has come out with a new scheme. This is nothing but misleading people. On the Minimum Support Price the Central Government committee revealed that the farmer spends ₹ 6,000 per quintal of cotton but the Central Government was saying it was just ₹4,000. He said this reveals how the BJP would calculate on the MSP in future for all the produce.
