TRS slams BJP for tom-tomming merit of double-engine government

By Our Special Correspondent

Targeting the BJP leaders on the 'double engine government', Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Monday said that the growth rate in Telangana is higher than the party-ruled states.

Addressing a press conference at the TRSLP office along with MPs Bibi Patil, K Prabhakar Reddy and MLA G Sunitha, Ravula spoke about the BJP's national executive meeting and public meeting and criticized the leaders' speeches for being more venomous than the substance.

He said that meeting with BJP with the aim of power has disturbed not only the people of the state but also the country. There are 18 CMs and none of them said that they have better schemes than Telangana.

Harish Rao said that the "While Telangana has a per capita income of Rs 2.7 lakh, Uttar Pradesh with a double-engine government has a per capita income of Rs 71,000. The single-engine government has three times the per capita income of the double engine,"

He accused the Prime Minister of speaking 'half-truths' in his speech at the Vijay Sankalp Sabha. He said that the state government had requested the Center to allocate a share in Krishna water and also sought national project status for Telangana, but projects in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were given national status.

Rao said that Modi mentioned the central purchase of paddy worth one lakh crores from Telangana and the construction of Kaleshwaram and other irrigation projects, Rythu Bandhu and free power supply by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, made this possible.

The TRS leaders demanded the Center to release a white paper on the jobs given in the last eight years. BJP has promised to provide two crore jobs every year. Where are the jobs? He said BJP has no moral right to question the TRS government on vacancies.

Rao said that the Center is shutting down public sector organizations and making people jobless. He said that the state government has notified 1.5 lakh posts. Already 1.35 lakh posts have been filled. Rao said that the government is filling up 91,000 vacancies in various departments.

The minister said that the Arogyasree scheme is much better than Ayushman Bharat introduced by the Centre. While the state government has spent Rs 980 crore on Arogyasree, the Center has spent only Rs 170 crore on Ayushman Bharat, which serves only 26 lakh families.