The Opposition parties termed the vote-on-account for 2014-15, introduced in the Assembly by Finance Minister A. Ramanarayana Reddy in the Assembly on Monday, as directionless, jugglery of numbers and full of lapses.
Criticising the Government for not considering the steep price rise while preparing the vote-on-account, TDP leaders B. Gopalakrishna Reddy and L. Ramana said allocation to different sectors had belied hopes of the people. It was full of lapses, they said seeking to know the fate of funds allocated for SC/ST Sub-Plans last year.
YSR Congress members G. Srikanth Reddy and B. Karunakar Reddy termed it as anti-people stating that all welfare schemes were given a short shrift in the allocations. They came down heavily against the State Government for neglecting students, farmers and women.
The government had succeeded only on account of claiming schemes and projects taken up by late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy as its own.
Opposing the very introduction of Vote-on-account, E. Rajender of Telangana Rashtra Samithi said the people of Telangana had stopped recognising the government the day it pushed through a resolution in the Assembly rejecting the A.P. Reorganisation Bill. He felt that estimates should have been presented only for four months period and Telangana State would introduce its own budget after bifurcation.
Floor Leader of CPI G. Mallesh said the estimates were not useful to either Coastal Andhra or Rayalaseema or Telangana people.
The outgoing government had the responsibility to table the information on revenue generated from each region and region-wise allocations now, he maintained.
Faulting the government for spending just 30 per cent of last year’s allocation to SC/ST Sub-Plans, J. Ranga Reddy of CPI (M) said the government had proposed huge allocations and taxes in its vote-on-account.
Meanwhile, Government Chief Whip G. Venkataramana Reddy said they had walked out of the budget presentation as it was introduced without taking into confidence the Ministers from Telangana.
Lok Satta Party (LSP) president Jayaprakash Narayana dubbed the Vote-on-account as perfunctory as it did not take cognizance of people’s discontent triggered by price rise, growing unemployment and decelerating industry.
