Hyderabad: The exclusive implementation of the Andhra Reorganisation Act for the benefit of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as reflected in the Union budget presented to parliament on Monday found its echo in the Telangana assembly today (July 24).
The assembly passed a unanimous resolution saying the budget discriminated against Telangana, a trend that has continued since the formation of the state as per the Act in 2014.
The resolution said that the Reorganisation Act mandated the Union government take all steps for stable development of both states, but that it failed to implement the promises in the Act, which deeply impacted Telangana’s development.
It added that after the formation of Telangana and the installation of a government in the state, the then-chief minister and his cabinet colleagues met the prime minister and other Union ministers several times with representations seeking assistance for various projects and funds legitimately due to the state.
But the Union government not only ignored all of them, but showed bias against the state in the budget, the resolution continued. Hence, it said, the House expressed its deep resentment and protest against the Union government’s attitude towards the state.
Moved by chief minister A. Revanth Reddy, the resolution demanded that the Union government revise the budget and take steps to ensure justice to the state.
Earlier, Reddy announced to the House his decision to boycott the meeting of NITI Aayog’s governing council to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27 in protest against the denial of funds to Telangana.
In his address, Reddy said the Union government ploughed back only 47 paise for every rupee contributed by the state to the national pool of taxes, while Bihar got Rs 7.26 for every rupee that it coughed up. In five years, he said Telangana got Rs 1.48 lakh crore against Rs 3.68 lakh crore mobilised as taxes for the Union government.
The debate preceding the resolution was marred by angry exchanges between Reddy and Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K.T. Rama Rao. He criticised what he said were obstacles set up against the debate by the opposition.
It was obvious when Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget on Monday that the Union government doled out largesse to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar due to the political compulsions of a coalition government.
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As key partners in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government of Andhra Pradesh and the Janata Dal (United) regime of Bihar threw their weight into the preparation of the budget.
The Union government announced some key promises made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to appease the TDP government. The Act was a legislation that bifurcated the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh ten years ago. It had some 35 promises to both states in a bid to overcome the impact of bifurcation.
Though its main concern to get special category status to Andhra Pradesh was ruled out, the TDP government led by chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu managed to extract certain promises through the budget that had lesser financial implications.
However, a recent initiative mooted to the Union government where a petrochemical hub and oil refinery would be set up along the coastline of the state failed to find a mention in the budget.
A delegation of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited led by its chairman and managing director Krishna Kumar also recently visited Andhra Pradesh and discussed the project with Naidu after he had met the prime minister in this regard in New Delhi.
It appeared almost certain that the project with a budget of Rs 50,000 to 60,000 crore would figure in the budget going by the quick response of the Union government to Naidu’s proposal.
Sitharaman said in her budget speech that “our government has made concerted efforts to fulfill the commitments in the Reorganisation Act. Recognising the state’s need for a capital, we will facilitate special financial support through multi-lateral development agencies. In the current financial year, Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged, with additional amount in future years, for the construction of Amaravati as the state capital.
“Our government is fully committed to financing and early completion of the Polavaram irrigation project, which is the lifeline for Andhra Pradesh and its farmers. This will facilitate our country’s food security as well.
“Under the Act, for promoting industrial development, funds will be provided for essential infrastructure such as water, power, railways and roads in the Kopparthy node on the Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor and the Orvakal node on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru industrial corridor. An additional allocation will be provided this year towards capital investment for economic growth.
“Grants for the backward regions of Rayalaseema, Prakasam and north coastal Andhra Pradesh as stated in the Act, will also be provided.”
The announcement met with a wild reaction from Revanth Reddy, who protested saying that if the Reorganisation Act was the basis to favour Andhra Pradesh, then Telangana should get its due since the state was also promised its share due to bifurcation. He said he was not against the Union government favouring Andhra Pradesh, but contested the denial of the same privilege to Telangana on even terms.
He expressed anger at a media conference that the Union government had discriminated against the state and acted with vengeance against it. It appeared as though the name of Telangana was barred from Sitharaman’s budget speech, Reddy said. He recalled that the Congress government approached the Union government eighteen times to press the promises the Act makes to Telangana. He had himself met Prime Minister Narendra Modi thrice, seeking assurances.
Also read: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh to Establish Committees to Break Impasse on Unresolved Matters
Without standing on prestige, Reddy said he pleaded with Modi to play the role of a big brother and release to Telangana what is legitimately due to the state. But the Union government ignored all the promises to Telangana while implementing the Act at its cost and in favour of Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The promises that were ditched include a steel factory at Bayyaram, locating an Indian Institute of Management (IIM), a railway coach factory at Kazipet, national project status to the Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme, and a tribal university at Mulugu.
Reddy even circulated a letter written by Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan that said it was not possible to set up the IIM in Telangana.
He asked coal minister and Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy to own responsibility for the indifference of the Union government towards the state.
Demanding Kishan Reddy’s resignation, the chief minister hit out at the Union government for treating the people of the state as its voting machinery. After eight party MPs were elected from Telangana recently, the party did not have the gratitude even to acknowledge the people’s support, he said, adding that he will take the lead to hold a meeting of southern chief ministers to discuss the vindictive attitude of the Union government towards non-BJP states.
BRS working president Rao said it was a zero budget for the state for the eleventh year. He said former chief minister and BRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao had brought 35 promises in the Act to the notice of the Union government several times but that nothing was achieved.
On the other hand, the budget was hailed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Naidu and several of his cabinet colleagues.
Naidu told mediapersons in an informal chat that the budget aimed to give all-round support to the state. The Union government conceded many proposals in the Act. The funding of the construction of state’s capital will spur economic activity and lead to income generation for the government from local taxes, he said.
Beside an initial Rs 15,000 crore, he said the Union government will mobilise more resources from various agencies for Amaravati on a need basis. In whatever form the funding was made, it will be largely useful to the state as it was badly hit financially in the last five years of YSR Congress rule.
Naidu expressed hope that if funds were released from agencies as loans, the repayment will be due only after thirty years. In any case, the loans will be given against a guarantee by the Union government. It will also have a grant component of the Union government as capital assistance.
Naidu noted that the Union government did not commit to fund the Polavaram project but took the responsibility to complete it. He said he had inputs that the Union government proposed to assist backward areas of the state like it did for Bundelkhand by incentivising industries as part of special package.
Andhra Pradesh BJP president D. Purandareswari and MP C.M. Ramesh said Rs 15,000 crore was not a loan but a grant in total since the Union government stood guarantee.
In Naidu’s previous term as chief minister between 2014 and 2019, the state government had set up the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority by an Act to develop 217 square kilometres as the state’s capital. After land pooling and several other activities, the authority took a backseat with the TDP pulling out from the NDA as an ally, and the successor government of the YSR Congress proposing three capitals at Amaravati, Kurnool and Visakhapatam.
The YSR Congress government also slowed down the execution of Polavaram project, citing its ‘faulty design’.
