Telangana Assembly urges Centre to do justice by amending Budget proposals

Hyderabad, July 24 : The Telangana Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution appealing to the Centre to render justice to the state by amending the proposals of the Union Budget 2024-25.

The house passed the resolution after a day-long debate and in the absence of BJP members, who staged a walk-out while demanding that the Congress government withdraw the resolution.

Main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and the Communist Party of India (CPI) supported the resolution.

The Assembly witnessed a heated debate on the resolution alleging discrimination by the Centre towards Telangana in the Budget presented in the Parliament on Tuesday.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy also announced that the state government will boycott the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled to be held on July 27. He alleged that the Centre undermined Telangana’s rights and did injustice to the state in the allocation of funds.

"India is a union of states as per the Constitution written by Dr B.R. Ambedkar. It is the responsibility of the Union Government for the integrated and holistic development of all the states in the country. The Central government has forsaken the federal spirit. Telangana state was meted out injustice in the union budget presented by the Central government. The Centre adopted indifference towards Telangana from the day of the formation of the state," reads the resolution.

"The Union Government owed the responsibility of taking all necessary steps for the sustainable development of the two states as per the AP Reorganisation Act. The Centre failed to fulfil the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act. The unfulfilled promises in the Reorganisation Act had a negative impact on the development of the Telangana state," it said.

"After the people’s government assumed power in the state, the Chief Minister and ministers delegations met Prime Minister and Union Ministers several times and made appeals to them. The CM and ministers requested the Union government for financial assistance for the projects, release of funds as per the act, and resolving the long-pending state issues. The Union government completely neglected the state government’s pleas and discriminated in the budget allocations to Telangana. The state Assembly registered a strong protest and expressed unhappiness over the Centre’s neglect of Telangana," the resolution added.

The Chief Minister also announced in the Assembly that he is ready to sit on fast-unto-death in Delhi to demand justice for Telangana if BRS President and Leader of Opposition K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) also joins the protest.

He made the announcement when BRS MLA K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) challenged Revanth Reddy and his Cabinet to sit on fast-unto-death to demand Central funds for the state. There was a heated exchange between Revanth Reddy and him over KCR’s absence in the house during the debate on the resolution.

KTR's remark that BRS MLAs are enough to reply to the ruling party triggered a war of words between the two leaders.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and D. Sridhar Babu, BRS members KTR and Harish Rao, BJP’s A. Maheshwar Reddy, AIMIM’s Majid Hussain and other members participated in the debate.