: The Bharatiya Janata Party, an ally of the Telugu Desam Party both at the Centre and in the State, on Thursday demanded a white paper on the expenditure incurred on the just-concluded Krishna Pushkaram. Addressing a press conference here, its State General Secretary S. Suresh Reddy wondered: “How can a cash-strapped State spend a staggering Rs.1,600 crore on the river festival after spending Rs.1, 800 crore during Godavari Mahapushkaram last year.”
“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should realise that he is leading a truncated State after bifurcation with huge revenue deficit and focus on financial prudence and prioritising of expenditure,” he suggested, adding that the river festival was bereft of religiosity.
He contended that a major part of the spending was on temporary works by contractors on nomination basis without any accountability.
He claimed that the corruption levels were high in the State.
He also alleged “large-scale diversion” of Central funds meant for local bodies and the MGNREGS. It was unfortunate that the Central schemes were renamed to appear as if they were implemented with State funds, he said.
‘Package likely soon’
Finding fault with the TDP for falling prey to the political conspiracy hatched by the Opposition parties which raked up the Special Category Status issue time and again for political mileage, he said: “The Centre is committed to giving more benefits to the State than that will accrue in the event of grant of SCS.” According to indications, the party-led government at the Centre would shortly announce a package to overcome the bifurcation blues and forge ahead in development, he said.
