VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam Party has criticised union budget 2021–22 for not providing any funds towards fulfilling promises made to Andhra Pradesh in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Leader of opposition in state legislative council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu held Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy squarely responsible for this.
Ramakrishnudu objected to AP-specific projects being ignored, whether in the Visakhapatnam-Chennai or Bengaluru-Chennai Industrial Corridor. He pointed out that while the Centre has allotted funds generously to industrial corridors in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Nagpur and other places, Andhra Pradesh failed to get anything. Huge funds have been allocated for metro rail projects elsewhere but AP did not receive any.
The leader of opposition demanded that CM explain why he has still failed in getting the Special Category Status for AP, even though people have given YSRC 22 Lok Sabha MPs in the 2019 election.
He recalled that before the Assembly elections, Jagan Mohan Reddy said he would wring the neck of the Centre if it failed to confer Special Status to AP if people of the state gave him all 25 MP seats. However, after getting the people’s mandate, the Chief Minister has never tried to pressurise the BJP-led government at the Centre. As a result, economic imbalances between the rich and poor are growing.
Former minister K.S. Jawahar, MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar and other TD leaders too maintained that AP has failed to get any funds in the union budget due to inefficiency of the CM.
