Though till now Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao didn’t reacted openly on the Union Budget, presented by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitly, two days ago, he seems to be very unhappy with the budget. During cabinet meeting last evening he has reportedly shared his concerns stating that none of flagship programmes of the Telangana government found place in budget allocations.
According to sources, Chief Minister has commented that “There is nothing to cheer about in the Union budget for Telanagana”. He particularly deplored that though the Government of India appreciated many flagship programmes of his government and asked other States to emulate them, the budget allocations dampened hopes.
It may be recalled that Chandrasekhar Rao was the first non-BJP Chief Minister, who had extended unconditional support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move, though he is not part of NDA. Even BJP soruces admits that support from KCR and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar helped the Prime Minister to garner more than life size image among common people of the country, as a `champion to end black money’.
Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender said that the newly created 29th State of India Telangana has expected more from the Centre. “From past two and half years, programmes such as Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, Harita Haram and minority residential schools were appreciated by the Centre but the budget is silent on their funding,” he said.
He asserted that while the State government was marching ahead with novel programmes, it was the responsibility of the Centre to extend a helping hand. Unfortunately, he deplored that the budget did not give any support. The budget was also silent on the assurances given through the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 such as sanctioning AIIMS.
Rajender questioned sanctioning of AIIMS for other States by sidelining Telangana. “It shows that the Centre is more sympathetic and concerned towards Andhra Pradesh,” the Minister said.He asked the Centre to look into the injustice meted out to Telangana and take corrective steps in the revised budget.
