KTR challenges BJP leader over Central funds to Telangana
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : Telangana Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday threw a challenge at state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar to prove him wrong that the state received only Rs 1.42 lakh crore out of its Rs 2.72 lakh crore contribution to the Centre in the form of taxes.
Rama Rao, who is also son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Working President of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), said he would resign from his ministerial post if Sanjay proves him wrong and if the BJP leader could not do so, he should resign from the Parliament.
KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, slammed the BJP leader for his claim during his ongoing 'padyatra' that funds for all the schemes of the state government are coming from the Centre.
Mounting a scathing attack on BJP while addressing a public meeting at Gadwal, he said that the Modi government is giving back only 50 per cent of what Telangana is contributing to the Centre, and told the people that the money earned from their sweat and blood was going to serve the people in the form of central funds to BJP-ruled states.
He alleged that the money being given by Telangana to the Centre in the form of taxes is being diverted to Uttar Pradesh and other backward states.
The TRS leader slammed the Centre for not sanctioning at least one medical college, IIM or Navodaya school for Telangana.
Targetting Sanjay for his claim, KTR asked him whether the Centre was paying for Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima, free 24 hours power supply to farmers, nurseries in every village, Vaikuntadhamams in villages, Haritha Haram, Kalyana Lakshmi/Shaadi Mubarak or monthly social security pension of Rs 2,000 for various categories of beneficiaries.
"If the Centre is giving funds for all the schemes being implemented in Telangana, why there are no such schemes in Karnataka which is ruled by the BJP," he asked.
KTR, who laid foundation stone or inaugurated development works worth Rs 104 crore in Jogulamba Gadwal district in a single day, said Sanjay was spreading lies during his ongoing padyatra.