Telangana to protest BJP's claims

Hyderabad: Relations between the Centre and the TS government have turned sour due to a political controversy over allocation of Central funds to the state.

TRS and BJP leaders have been levelling serious allegations against each other since last Saturday, and their war of words is intensifying. It all started with BJP national president Amit Shah who said in his Suryapet public meeting on Friday that the Centre had released over Rs 90,000 crore to TS in the last two years but the funds were not spent properly on welfare and development programmes.

This triggered sharp protests from TS ministers and TRS MPs, who accused Amit Shah of propagating lies on Central funds to TS. They said what the state actually got was only Rs 36,000 crore, that too in the form of TS’ share in Central taxes.

The TS government is now devising plans to showcase how TS was being discriminated against by BJP-led NDA government at all levels in the allocation of funds.

The government is angry at the statements made by state BJP leaders that TS received over Rs 1.16 lakh-crore in two years.

The government has decided to lodge a strong protest with the Centre over how NITI-Aayog's recommendations on giving additional funds to TS and support to Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya schemes were ignored.

“NITI-Aayog is headed by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has appreciated Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya schemes and recommended the finance ministry to give Rs 24,000 crore. An official note was sent to the finance ministry in this regard but there has been no response,” said TS finance minister Etela Rajender.

TRS leaders pointed out that that if Amit Shah was really sincere about mitigating the fluoride water problem in Nalgonda district, he should ensure that the funds recommended by NITI-Aayog for Mission Bhagiratha reach TS. However, BJPLP leader G. Kishan Reddy demanded the government release a white paper on Centre’s funds, if it has the guts.