KTR accuses Kishan of spreading ‘blatant lies’

Hyderabad: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao came down heavily on Union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy accusing him of spreading ‘blatant lies’ on flood relief funds extended by the Centre to Telangana.

Rama Rao said Kishan Reddy was ignorant in differentiating between the funds sanctioned under NDRF (National Disaster Relief Fund) and SDRF (State Disaster Relief Fund) and was trying to mislead and confuse people by referring to funds sanctioned under SDRF.

“The SDRF fund is a constitutional right of every state. SDRF is one of the ways the states get back the taxes paid by them to the Centre and (Kishan) Reddy should know about this fact,” Rama Rao said in a statement. He also dared him to disclose funds sanctioned to Telangana under NDRF.

He alleged that the Modi government at the Centre has been sanctioning a large sums of money to BJP-ruled states which were affected by states, whereas they are sending only inspection teams to non-BJP ruled states affected by floods.

“Since 2018, till the present, Bihar was allocated Rs 3,250 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 4,530 crore, Karnataka Rs 6,490 crore, Gujarat Rs 1,000 crore under NDRF. Are these statistics not correct?” Rama Rao questioned.

When they can allocate Rs 15,270 crore to the four BJP-ruled states, why can’t they provide special funds to Telangana in a similar way, Rama Rao asked.

The state minister also challenged the Union tourism minister to get funds allocated to Telangana state just as the BJP-ruled states get.

He also demanded that Kishan Reddy should apologise to the people of Telangana for spreading lies about the NDRF funds. “If Kishan Reddy has any love for Telangana state, he should bring special funds to Telangana under NDRF. If not Reddy should accept that the BJP government has given nothing to Telangana since 2018,” Rao added.

“Is it not true that the Prime Minister himself conducted a survey on floods in Gujarat and released Rs 1,000 crore under NDRF special additional assistance in the form of advance in 2021?” Rama Rao asked.

He wondered if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was blind to the problems faced by the people of Telangana. “We will keep questioning his discriminatory attitude,” Rao said.

He stated that the Centre has not responded to the multiple requests of the Telangana government which repeatedly appealed for the allocation of special funds during the floods in Hyderabad.