BJP Slams Biased Finance Scheme for Minorities

HYDERABAD: The BJP on Monday slammed the state government's announcement of Rs 1 lakh financial aid to minorities and termed it as "yet another fraud being perpetrated on minorities."

Senior party leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy told reporters here on Monday that the scheme was announced only to lure Muslim voters ahead of the Assembly elections.

"This is tantamount to electoral bribing of the community. We will take this to the notice of the Election Commission. The EC should take note of this announcement as it is aimed at gaining undue and unjust electoral advantage, which the poll panel must prevent," Reddy said.

"Except for Muslims and Christians there is no mention of minorities like Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Are they not minorities? Won't they be eligible for this largesse," he asked.

"KCR is a habitual fraudster. The orders issued on Sunday say that the Minorities Finance Corporation had urged the state government to extend assistance of Rs 1 lakh per minority candidate as prevails for BCs. The so-called BC Bandhu itself is grossly unfair and selective and was an election gimmick. At least, it had some dates for receiving applications, processing them and fund disbursal. The GO for minorities has no such details," he said.

There is no word on the 2.5 lakh applications that are pending with the corporation and now the government says it will consider the 1.2 lakh applications received in the second round during 2022-23 and not those received before, Reddy said.

He said, "The AIMIM, a BRS ally, and one that claims that the state government's steering is in its hands, has been silent on the new scheme. Gross injustice is being done on the applicants. This clearly shows that the AIMIM is hand in glove with the BRS in cheating the minorities."

Meanwhile, the party's minority morcha president Afsar Pasha said that so far applicants have paid around Rs 26 crore to the government towards the application process. The government had earlier announced that Rs 15 crore is being given for the purpose. Even these funds have not been released, he said.

"For how long will the minorities be fooled in this manner? Does the government think that only Muslims constitute minorities? I appeal to everyone not to submit fresh applications. Save the money till the government comes up with an appropriate timeline for releasing funds," Pasha said.