Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Vice-President Mohammed Ali Shabbir has alleged that the BJP Government at the Centre has insulted both the Telugu States by allocating meager funds in the Railway Budget.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here on Friday, Shabbir said that the South Central Railway has been allocated a meager sum of Rs 2,768 crore in the Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on Thursday. He said that SCR serves the State of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Therefore, the allocation of Rs 2,768 crore was not only insufficient, but an open insult to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, whose individual annual budgets exceed Rs.One lakh crore each. “I have not seen such a worse budget in my political career of more than 25 years,” he said.
He said about 30 major projects worth Rs 20,680 crore are pending in both the Telugu States. “How the Centre proposes to complete these projects by allocating just Rs 2,768 crore” he asked.
The Congress leader alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has failed to get funds even for the project meant for his constituency. Nothing has been done on 200-km Manuguru to Ramagundem line which was crucial for transportation of coal for power projects. He found fault with Nizamabad MP and KCR’s daughter K Kavitha for praising the Railway Budget. “She is praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as she wants to join the Union cabinet. She would’ve condemned the budget if she was really concerned about the people of Telangana,” he added.
Shabbir Ali accused KCR and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that they are singing ‘bhajans’ in praise of Modi only for personal gains. “Both of them have disappointed the Telugu people and failed to get anything from the Centre. ‘We were treated like beggars as the allocated amount is nothing short of alms. We must refuse to accept it,” he said.
The Congress leader demanded that KCR should lead a protest at Jantar Mantar and all MPs from Telangana should jointly lodge their protest against the Centre’s attitude.(NSS)