The budget ‘skipped’ all the demands the two states submitted to the FM.
Hyderabad: The MPs of TRS and YSR Congress, ruling parties in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively, are expected to register their protest in various forms against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget for 2020-21 that was presented in Lok Sabha on Saturday. TRS MPs may enter the well of the House, while YSR Congress members may not do it.
The governments of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have responded cautiously to the budget as it skipped all of their demands submitted to the Finance Minister in the last few days. The combined demands of these two states to the Union government are worth around Rs 1 lakh crore, but the budget made no mention of any of them and simply stuck to the recommendations of the just accepted 15th Finance Commission report.
TRS leader in Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao described the budget as “disappointing” and “empty” as far as the demands and aspirations of the states in general and Telangana in specific. “We expected a lot from this budget that is the first full-fledged one after the BJP came to power with a massive majority for a second term. But clearly we are cheated,” he said after the FM’s speech.
A couple of days before the budget presentation, Telangana Finance Minister T. Harish Rao submitted a memorandum to Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, seeking assistance to the state of around Rs 56,000 crore under various heads. Telangana has been asking for Central assistance under the AP Reorganization Act 2014 that created the state.
Sources in the finance department of Telangana told this newspaper that the mention of Rythu Bandhu scheme of the state which gives direct cash assistance in the Economic Survey 2020 raised hopes of some amount of Central grants to it, but the budget speech has completed ignored it. “We are under severe strain to implement this innovative scheme,” said a senior official in the agriculture department.
The Telangana government has been asking for national status for the Kaleswaram lift irrigation project across river Godavari for the last five years, but the BJP led government hasn’t responded to it. This time, Harish Rao particularly asked Thakur to consider the same as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh got a national status irrigation project Polavaram on the same river.
The just accepted report of the 15th Finance Commission reduces the tax share of the states by 1% and it would deal a blow to Telangana. “Our share in Central taxes is around 2.133% and Telangana is one of the few rich states in the country, but there is no special assistance to the state in the budget. This is nothing but discouraging the performing states,” Nageswara Rao said.
Two other MPs of TRS—Kotha Prabhakar Reddy (LS) and Badugu Lingaiah Yadav (Rajya Sabha)—too voiced similar concerns and hinted at protesting against the budget in the coming days. “We will not keep quiet, and explore all options to put forward our demands in Parliament. We will fight for the interest of our state,” the two MPs said. TRS has nine MPs in Lok Sabha and six MPs in Rajya Sabha.
The ruling YSR Congress, which has 23 MPs in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha, too, is angry with the budget. Party president and AP CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy told them at the parliamentary party meeting to fight for the interests of Andhra in case the Centre ignored the same in the budget. Now the MPs might register their protest in both the Houses.
However, members of YSR Congress may not adopt a confrontationist stance with the Centre and avoid entering the well of the House to register their protest. The party has been pleased with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to allot them the Room No. 5 on the ground floor of the Parliament which was occupied by TDP since 1989.
YSR Congress parliamentary party leader V. Vijaya Sai Reddy thanked the Speaker for the gesture and said that the party would find ways to bring pressure on the Centre to secure funds for Andhra Pradesh. “We have opportunities to register our protest to the FM and we will do it,” said YSR Congress leader in Lok Sabha, P.V. Mithun Reddy.
The neglect of long-pending demands for new railway lines and special assistance for pending irrigation projects and ignoring the assurances given to Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation six years ago, are some of the issues that would be raised by YSR Congress. The MPs of these two parties might submit their governments’ views to the Finance Minister next week.