BJP biased against Telangana, says KT Rama Rao

Hyderabad: TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Saturday slammed the BJP government at the Centre for its “partisan and step-motherly attitude” towards Telangana state.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, Mr Rama Rao cautioned that the BJP would lose its deposit in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections if it continued to neglect Telangana state by not providing funds for irrigation and other projects. “The BJP government only has praise for Telangana. They never release funds,” Mr Rama Rao said. “The BJP government is biased against Telangana because they don’t see a political future for it here. We strongly condemn this behaviour.”

He reminded how in the recent Assembly elections, BJP candidates lost their deposits in 103 seats. “If the BJP continues to behave in the same manner, the party will lose deposits in the 17 parliament constituencies as well.” 

Mr Rama Rao said that despite receiving appreciation for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya from all corners of the country, the projects were not being adequately supported by the Centre. “When the BJP government in Maharashtra requested for the Centre’s assistance for their irrigation projects, the Centre allocated Rs 3,830 crore to Maharashtra. But no such assistance was provided for Telangana’s projects. They have different sets of rules for BJP-ruled and non-BJP-ruled states.”

He highlighted that Mission Bhagiratha had won a Hudco award twice for best outstanding contribution in the infrastructure sector through innovative initiatives and received encomium from the Prime Minister, Union ministers, Niti Aayog, the 15th Finance Commission and states like Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, Maharash-tra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made special mention of Mission Bhagiratha in his Mann Ki Baat radio programme and applauded the efforts made by the Telangana government in the water supply sector, Mr Rama Rao said. The model was also being emulated in Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra. He also reminded how eminent persons like Waterman of India Mr Rajendra Singh and Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi had praised Mission Bhagiratha.

“Former Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya had visited the state and met chief minister Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao and other officials and discussed ongoing work of Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya,” Mr Rama Rao said. “He even wrote to the Centre recommending Rs 24,000 crore to these projects.”

He also said that TRS party leaders have been requesting the Centre to confer national project status to Kaleshwaram and sanction a special grant for it.“It is unfortunate that the Centre does not respond to our demands,” Mr Rama Rao said.