HYDERABAD: Finance Minister T Harish Rao has called upon employees of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) to explain to the public the discriminative attitude of the Union government towards Telangana.
Addressing a thanksgiving meeting organised by SERP employees here on Saturday, Harish requested them to explain the facts to the people. “Let us initiate a debate with people on the development that happened under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Do not tell lies to the people like BJP leaders,” Harish told SERP employees.
He recalled that the State government purchased paddy worth Rs 3,200 crore in 2015 and worth Rs 26,700 in 2022. “If you want to see how “useful” a double-engine government is, look at Karnataka,” Harish said sarcastically.
Stating that the Opposition has no issues to highlight and criticise the government with, Harish said that this was the reason behind personal attacks on BRS leaders.
“The Centre has copied several schemes being implemented in Telangana. The Centre lauds Telangana schemes and also presented several awards, yet BJP leaders criticise the same schemes,” he said.
Harish said that the Centre has not been releasing funds for the last six years under interest-free loans for SERP, and called upon the employees to expose the Centre’s indifferent attitude towards Telangana.
He reminded that the government of erstwhile AP removed 4,000 SERP employees and the BRS reinstated them into service after it came to power in 2014. “The BRS government gave 11 per cent increment to SERP employees in 2014. They got 30 per cent fitment. SERP women are getting interest-free loans up to Rs 3 lakh,” Harish reminded.