NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday refuted allegations that Telangana has been ignored while allocating funds for various schemes.Speaking at the Telangana Formation Day celebrations organised by the Ministry of Culture in Delhi, he said: “Money has been given to Telangana under different heads. If I continue to list out the number of funds released to Telangana, the next general elections might arrive.”
He also provided a break-up of the funds given by the Centre for some of the important schemes. He listed the corresponding schemes and projects for which the Centre provided financial assistance in various forms.
“This should put to rest all disinformation that injustice has been done to Telangana,” Shah said, adding that this amount “could have gone over `3 lakh crore” but the TRS government of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao “did not cooperate with the Centre”.Taking on Rao, Shah “requested” the Chief Minister to “at least some times, reveal the truth to the people of Telangana and provide them the real picture”.Earlier in his speech, the Home Minister reminded the audience that the BJP had always supported the creation of Telangana which was formed when A B Vajpayee was the prime minister.
Interestingly, Shah also recalled the contribution of Communist and Congress leaders who fought for freedom of India as well as liberation of Nizam-ruled Hyderabad State. “Ramji Gond, Komaram Bheem, Swami Ramananda Tirtha, Pandi Narendra, Suravaram Pratapa Reddy, Dasaradhi Rangacharya, Govind Bhai, and former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao all these people played important role in freeing Telangana from Nizam,” he said.
Stating that BJP will officially celebrate Telangna Liberation Day after coming to power, he said: “Had Sardar Patel not carried out “Police Action” against Nizam, the map of India would have been different.”Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy slammed Chandrasekar Rao for not supporting Centrally-sponsored development programmes.