Telangana legislators on Wednesday, July 24 slammed the Union government for sidelining the state in the Union Budget 2024-25 which was released on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Addressing the state legislative assembly on Wednesday, Telangana IT minister D Sridhar Babu remarked that despite meeting Prime Minister Modi on three different occasions in New Delhi, none of the demands made by Telangana CM Revanth Reddy were met.
“The Telangana public sent eight BJP leaders to the Parliament. Two of those people are a part of the Union Cabinet. What is the mistake of the public? Is Telangana not a part of the country?” he asked.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won eight out of 17 seats in Telangana in the recent Lok Sabha elections. While the neighbouring Telugu state of Andhra Pradesh received ample representation in the Union Budget, Telangana wasn’t mentioned in the Finance Minister’s speech and found nearly no mention in the Union’s expenditure budget.
“The industrial corridor connecting Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad does not benefit Telangana in any way and even when the Finance Minister discussed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, it was only to the benefit of Andhra and not Telangana,” he said.
Sridhar Babu also remarked that CM Revanth met PM Modi in December 2023 and requested funds. “He asked for the issue of coal block allocation in Telangana and met with the Prime Minister again in July 2024. HE also asked for 2,70,000 houses to be constructed in Telangana Housing Corporation under PM Awaas Yojana but the Union has meted out ‘step-motherly’ treatment to us,” he said.
The IT minister also brought up the silence on funds for Kazipet coach factory, a longstanding issue of Telangana as well as not aiding the state in developing the state’s power distributing company, Hyderabad’s Defense Corridor or Bulk Drug Park. “India has lost an opportunity to develop a bulk drug park powerhouse,” he said.
CM Revanth also criticised the Union Budget on Tuesday for not aiding the Musi riverfront development project or the Regional Ring Road (RRR) and called it a ‘Chair Bachao Budget’. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) also found fault and stated that “while it was good to aid Andhra and Bihar, other states including Telangana were sidelined.”