Congress: Tall claims forte of government

Vijayawada: The Opposition parties expressed dissatisfaction over the priorities given to various sectors in the Budget. Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative council C. Ramachandraiah, belonging to the Congress, observed that making tall claims and exaggerating achievements has become embarassingly common to the government. Leaders of the Left parties also expressed the same opinion.

Mr Ramachandraiah said all the governments in India, since 1950, have divided Budget into planning and non-planning sectors, in addition to capital and revenue categories, which is a Constitutional requirement. “How can the TD government claim this as a structural reform? All these new terminology is aimed at drawing public attention,” he said. Mr Ramachandraiah also said that 11.06 per cent growth rate has not been recorded anywhere in India till today, but the TD government claims that AP stands top in the country with 11.06 growth rate which means AP is the world’s best state now. “But the chief minister, in the past, said he would try his best to keep AP in the frontline by 2050.”

APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy said the government is cheating on the public and that it was clearly evident in the Budget, wherein Rs 3,600 crore was claimed to have been allocated for debt relief to farmers. “This is not sufficient at least to pay the interest.” He further said that the government, earlier, had promised Rs 85,000 crore for debt relief to farmers but later,  reduced it to Rs 24,000 crore, out of which only Rs 12,200 crore has been cleared, Mr Raghuveera pointed out.

CPM state secretary P.  Madhu also echoed the same feelings like Mr Raghuveera Reddy. He said the TD government was cheating on the public. Earlier, the TD government promised Rs 3,000 stipend to each of the unemployed youth but it had allocated only Rs 500 crore, which means each unemployed youth would not get more than Rs 120. CPI State secretary K. Rama Krishna said the TD government’s commitment towards BC welfare is clearly seen in the Budget which allocated Rs 10,000 for their welfare. “The BCs form half of the population and require at least Rs 30,000 crore funds. The legitimacy to the BC sub-plan has been intentionally neglected by the TD government,” he added.

TD: Budget aims at complete welfare

The Telugu Desam legislators described the annual Budget as the Budget of the poor. Minister Palle Raghunath Reddy said the Budget was prepared aiming all-round development of the state. He said Budget allocations were made to strike a balance between welfare and development.

He welcomed the funds allocation for the unemployed youth and said the government was committed to fulfilling all the promises made at the hustings. TD legistlator from Tenali, Alapati Rajendra Prasad, said that for the first time in the history, 100 per cent Budget expenditure was met from the previous Budget. He also said that considering the capital and revenue expenditures in preparing the Budget was a welcome move.

Hitting back at the comments made by the YSRC leaders, Mr. Prasad said that women empowerment started with the TD from N.T. Rama Rao’s government in the 80s. “Those who are criticising the government over financial assistance to the unemployed youth did not even have a thought about it.” He said AP has seen pro-active budgets only in the TD regime and the first Budget from Amaravati will give a new direction to the AP development.