PNS|Hyderabad
Finance Minister T. Harish Rao criticised Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for “uttering lies” about Telangana.
He reiterated that the statements made by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the Assembly were 100% true and that the BRS supremo backed up every word with facts and figures.
Harish said that the Centre is doing injustice to Telangana in the matter of medical colleges and they are questioning the Centre about that. He lashed out at the Centre for refusing medical colleges for Khammam and Karimnagar.
He said that the people of Karimnagar and Khammam will now think why should they vote for the BJP which had promised them medical colleges. Harish asked the Centre to allocate medical colleges if there is still any regard left for Telangana.
Similarly, he demanded the Centre to release the Rs 1250 billion due to the state. He demanded that the Centre should respect the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. He criticized the Centre for creating trouble by not giving funds due to Telangana.
Harish complained that there is nothing in the Central budget and everything is empty. He said that there is not even a single item related to the welfare of the poor in the Central budget. He also said that taxes were reduced for companies and said that there was no mention of farmers, women, professions and the poor in the budget.
Harish said that leaders of the Central Government are trampling on the decisions of the Finance Commission and doing injustice to Telangana.
He asked why GST funds were not given to Telangana and given to AP. He said that Telangana has taken loans under Article 293 and with borrowed funds it executed projects.
He criticised the BJP government for taking thousands of billions as loans and not using it wisely. He blamed the Centre for the rise in debt in the state as well. “If Telangana’s debts are increasing, it is the Centre which has to be blamed,” Harish said.
It may be mentioned here that Nirmala Sitaraman said that KCR did not send proposals on medical colleges even though the Centre asked for them. She said the Centre rejected the proposals sent by the BRS government as it had sent proposals seeking medical colleges for Khammam and Karimnagar, where medical colleges already existed.
Nirmala questioned the Chief Minister as to how the debts of Rs 600 billion in 2014 became Rs 3000 billion in 2023. She said the Centre gave Rs 1390 billion to the Telangana government as grants from 2014.
