A jugglery of digits for votes: Congress

Left parties and the Congress in the State on Thursday expressed their disappointment over the lack of allocations to the State in the Union Budget.

VIJAYAWADA:   Left parties and the Congress in the State on Thursday expressed their disappointment over the lack of allocations to the State in the Union Budget. APCC chief N Raghuveera Reddy described the Union Budget as a mere jugglery of digits done for votes with elections in mind. “No allocations were made for implementing the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act. There was no mention of Dugarajapatnam Port, steel plant in Kadapa and Visakhapatnam railway zone,” he said.

He questioned the lack of allocations for the two industrial corridors in the State and proposed metro rail projects. He also expressed his displeasure over the meagre allocations for central institutions in the State. 
Echoing the opinion, CPI and CPM State secretaries K Ramakrishna and P Madhu said the budget has left the State high and dry. “It is very disappointing. We have decided to stage protests to express the disappointment of the people against the budget,” they said. 

Ramakrishna said Jaitley’s budget was more pro-rich than pro-poor as being claimed, which is evident from the fact that those companies having `250 crore turnover were provided 25 per cent subsidy in taxes. He also found fault with the Union Minister for providing funds to the metro rail projects in Karnataka and Maharashtra while neglecting AP.CPM secretary Madhu too expressed his disappointment over the lack of budgetary allocations to the State and wondered what happened to the tall claims of the TDP regime.

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