Statement By Finance Minister About The Allocated Funds To Telangana Is Untrue

IT and municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao is leading a counterattack on Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her statements over and allocations to state in Union Budget, saying that the people of Telangana have given more than double to the Centre than what it gave to the state. He asked the Union government to be more liberal and accommodative about the rapidly growing State. KTR also said that the Union Finance Minister had wrongly stated that the Centre had given additional funds to the state.

Giving year-wise funds allocated by the Centre to Telangana in contradistinction to funds collected by the Centre from Telangana, the KTR said that the state has given Rs. 2,72,926 (2.73 lakh) crores to Centre though taxes, whereas, the center had given only Rs. 1,12,854 (1.13 lakh) crores to the state. He pointed out that the difference was Rs. 1,60,072 (1.60 lakh) crores.

In a tweet, Mr. Rao said, “Pained by the condescension in the statement of FM in Parliament that Centre has ‘Given’ TS funds. People of Telangana & the nation need to know what Telangana ‘Gives’ to Government of India in the form of taxes & what we get in return- Hope the irony is not lost on you FM Ji (sic)”.

“Based on the statement given by the Union Finance Minister, there is a gap of Rs 1.6 lakh crores upon comparing funds allocated to the state and the latter’s contribution to the Central funds,” Rao said. “Such irresponsible and false statements pose a threat to the very existence of BJP in the future,” he added.

The Minister said the future belongs to regional parties. He pointed out that BJP hardly had any presence in south India except for Karnataka.