As the pressure to fulfil election promises continued to build on the Congress government in Telenagana, its tussle with the Centre over fund allocations and disbursal has also increased.
A political slugfest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the projects pending with the Centre and the claims that it is not releasing adequate funds has erupted in the state.
Recently, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy alleged that Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy was blocking the projects. The Chief Minister made the allegation on February 26 after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek the Centre’s approval for the key infrastructure projects.
When Kishan Reddy threw a challenge to Revanth Reddy to prove his allegation, the latter claimed that the Union Minister from the state blocked the Centre’s approval for the second phase of the Hyderabad Metro.
The Chief Minister alleged that Kishan Reddy did not want him to get the credit for the project. Revanth Reddy also claimed that the Union Minister was trying to please his secret friend and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Denying Revanth Reddy’s allegation, Kishan Reddy accused the Congress government in the state of not cooperating with the Central government in implementing various schemes.
The BJP leader also claimed that the Chief Minister was making baseless allegations against him to divert public attention from the failures of his government in delivering on the promises made in the Assembly elections.
“The Congress wants Centre to implement six guarantees and 420 promises made by it in Assembly elections,” remarked Kishan Reddy, who is also the BJP’s state president.
With the BJP winning two of three MLC seats from graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, Kishan Reddy termed it as the people’s verdict against the Chief Minister’s baseless allegation.
Amid this war of words, the State Cabinet decided to convene a meeting of all MPs from the state to discuss the pending projects and funds due from the Centre and evolve a strategy to take them up with the Centre and raise in both the Houses of Parliament.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka personally invited MPs of all parties, including Kishan Reddy and the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, to the meeting. Both the BJP and BRS stayed away from the meeting held on March 8.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi was the only MP other than the MPs of Congress party to attend the meeting.
“The Government of India is not treating the people of Telangana fairly and justly. Despite having eight MPs from the BJP, some of them are Union Ministers, justice is not being done to Telangana in terms of sanctioning projects,” Owaisi said at the meeting.
The meeting of all MPs was a strategic move by the Congress to show that the BJP and BRS have no interest in taking up the state issues with the Centre. The Congress has been accusing both the BJP Union Ministers from the state and other MPs of the saffron party of failing to get anything for Telangana from the Centre.
The state government also published a booklet with details of pending projects and funds due from the Centre and also various representations made to it.
The meeting discussed the proposal to move an adjournment motion in the Parliament over the state issues.
Vikramarka said BRS acted with negligence for the last 10 years, and though they have been making all efforts for the last year, the Centre was not cooperating.
“The state is suffering due to lack of necessary funding and approval of projects by the Centre,” said Vikramarka, who is also the minister for finance and energy.
According to him, several issues, including the establishment of a steel plant, railway coach factory, and other promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, are still pending with the Centre.
In January, the Deputy CM wrote to Kishan Reddy to request the Central government’s support for several key projects in Telangana that are crucial to the state’s progress. The total request for these projects amounts to Rs 1,63,559.31 crore.
These projects include Regional Ring Road (Rs 34,367.62 crore), radial roads (Rs 45,000 crore), Metro Rail Phase-II (Rs 24,269 crore), Musi Riverfront Development (Rs 4,100 crore, Godavari-Musi River Link (Rs 7,440 crore) Sewerage Master Plan for Hyderabad (Rs 17,212.69 crore), Warangal Underground Drainage (Rs 4,170 crore), Greenfield Highway from Bandar to Dry Port (Rs 17,000 crore), coal block allocation for Singareni Collieries Company Limited and Semiconductor Mission
Hours before the March 8 meeting, Kishan Reddy wrote a letter to the Deputy CM that they were unable to attend due to prior commitments and the short notice at which the meeting was convened.
When the meeting of MPs was on, Kishan Reddy held a press conference in Hyderabad to allege that the Revanth Reddy government wants to foot the bill for implementing the promises made by Congress in the Assembly elections.
Stating that the Congress need not tell the BJP what to do to protect the state’s interests, he claimed that the Centre spent Rs 10 lakh crore in the last decade for the state's development.
Kishan Reddy spoke about his efforts to get the Centre’s approval for some of the projects. He said he discussed the Regional Ring Road project with Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari and urged him to complete the project as early as possible.
The BJP also claimed credit for the recent approval by the Centre for the airport at Mamnoor in Warangal.
Kishan Reddy jointly addressed a press conference with Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in Hyderabad last week to share details of the airport project.
The Congress government has been targeting the BJP for what it calls the Centre’s bias against Telangana. Congress leaders are highlighting the meagre allocation for the state in the Union Budget.
However, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar claimed that Telangana has been allocated Rs 1.08 lakh crore in the form of taxes and schemes in this year’s Union Budget.
