Hyderabad/New Delhi, July 3: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, chose to remain silent after the railway minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, ignored the state’s interests in her Budget. Unlike previous times, the Chief Minister did not even bother to lodge his protest.
The budget came as a slap on the Congress government’s face and party leaders admitted that Dr Reddy’s credibility was at stake.
AP Congress MPs reportedly met Ms Banerjee and the minister of state, Mr K.H. Muniyappa, and expressed their disappointment. They said they would take the issue to the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi.
Mr V. Hanumantha Rao, the Congress Rajya Sabha member, remarked, “After the train left, we reached the platform.” Mr K. Keshava Rao, Congress MP, said, “We are not satisfied. Not even a single non-stop train has been introduced in AP.”
In comparison, Karnataka got eight new trains and Tamil Nadu six. Chennai and Thiruvanatapuram will be made world class stations, but Karnataka gets three stations in this category: Bengaluru, Baiyapanahali and Mangalore.
Party leaders are now worried about the fate of other major demands like declaring the Polavaram and Pranahita irrigation projects as national projects.
Dr Reddy could not even swing the new 250-km line between his native Kadapa and Bengaluru. The railways had sanctioned Rs 1 lakh for survey of the Rs 1,023-crore line, but there was no mention of it this time.
The CM’s son and Kadapa MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had led a delegation of party MPs to Ms Banerjee to seek higher allocations for the state.
It was seen as an effort to project Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as a future leader; it met with failure in the first attempt.
Sources said the CM’s camp was clueless on the second phase MMTS being ignored despite a firm assurance given by the railway ministry. The government had even announced revival of the MMTS Phase II on this assurance.
Latest Comments
I have voted for congress, probably I have to regret the mistake. UPA govt is not considering AP as an important state for their future. Our CM has kept quite even when the state Congress MPs were ignored for ministerial posts. What else he could do, he cannot raise his voice against Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. His position is so delicate. Let alone the railway budget, I am sure no funds will be provided even in the national budget
I think people of AP should get used to this kind of tretment by Centre after so many years. right from the 60s we have had Presidents, vice-presidents, Union Ministers, and even a PM from AP. compared to our southern neighbour on the east, we are miles behind in development. Tata will visit AP to setup his plant but will finally decide on Gujarat. rather than blame the Centre, i think we should recall MPs/ CMs Union Ministers if they fail to get a "fair share of the cake " for AP. the enthu shown by our CM in sending his son to talk to Rly minister, may show a better result if he met her before/ made enquiries before the budget was out. innumerable number of heavy industries have gone to TN in the 40 yrs since independence. All our leaders can do is "keep mum" and fill their own pockets. it is time that this changes.
The Chief Minister has no other way but to remain silent when incalculacable damage has been done to the state by the present and previous railway ministers.
When the Congress MPs were ignored ministerial posts by Manmohan Singh-led UPA Govt, the CM said posts are not important as long as the state gets from the Centre various projects like Jalayagnam, Rajiv Arogyasri etc.
The state got neither ministerial posts in the union cabinet then, nor the funds for development of railways or projects in the state now. MPs can do little or nothing when the CM himself is taken lighly and the state ignored by the UPA Govt. People in the state are taken for a ride by the Centre.
Our CM should rethink his strategy. Stop blaming the ex-CM. With only 24 MPs he had achieved more in the Rly sector for AP with the due support of Mr Dattatreya. At that time TD was only an ally and external support to the NDA governament. But now even though we have 33 MPs from the ruling party we have nothing... not even a Rajdhani starting from the national capital. We are dependent on the Rrajdhani starting from Bengaluru.
Shame for AP Congress MPs ....fit for nothing ..... Waste electing Congress.
when we elect dummies as our MPs this is what we get
More from Hyderabad
Post your comment