VIJAYAWADA: The opposition TDP, which had criticised the BJP-led Centre for neglecting the interests of Andhra Pradesh in the last year’s budget, has now directed its attack towards the ruling YSRC for the alleged neglect of the State in Union Budget for 2020-21 fiscal.
The TDP, after snapping its ties with the NDA in the previous tenure, had lashed out at the BJP for neglecting the State in the previous budget.
However, after its drubbing in the elections and losing power in the State, the TDP has been sending feelers for getting close to the BJP once again. In yet another indication to this, the TDP trained its guns on the YSRC rather than the BJP-led NDA.
Alleging that the YSR Congress, which promised to get Special Category Status (SCS) and funds from the Centre if the party gets 25 MPs, failed to fulfil its promise, the TDP blamed the “corrupt and inefficient’ governance of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for the State not getting any specific allocation in the budget. The party also equated the Jagan government to that of Tughlaq's .
"The State suffered irreparable loss due to the policies of the YSRC government. It failed miserably in getting budgetary allocations. Jagan lacks the ability to get funds from the Centre," former finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu alleged and added all works, including Polavaram project works, in the State have come to a standstill in the past eight months.
Ramakrishnudu said Jagan’s first blunder was to review the renewable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which was opposed by the embassies of five countries and the Centre and the courts too found fault with the decision. "Even after facing criticism from several quarters, Jagan went ahead with the decision to review the PPAs which led to backing out of investments into the State," Ramakrishnudu alleged.
Citing the backing out of Lulu, Franklin Templeton and other foreign companies from investing in the State, Ramakrishnudu said the State has lost investments to the tune of several lakhs of crores in the past eight months.
Equating the decision of three capitals to that of the Tughlaq regime, Ramakrishnudu said that the credibility of State was at stake due to the decisions of Jagan. “In the last eight months, the YSR Congress government had made debts to the tune of `40,000 crore, increased bus ticket charges and VAT on petrol and diesel,’’ Ramakrishnudu said.
Much-needed boost to agriculture: Kanna Laksminarayana
VIJAYAWADA: BJP State president Kanna Laksminarayana hailed the Union Budget and said it would provide the much-needed boost to agriculture, rural development, poverty alleviation and basic infrastructure.
In a press release, Kanna said Rs 2.93 lakh crore was allocated to agriculture and rural development and incentives were provided with an aim to double the farmers’ income by 2022. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana will benefit 6.11 crore farmers.
First priority was given to agriculture, irrigation, rural development and second priority for health, sanitation and drinking water, while third for education and welfare of children. Kanna said the financial health of the country was good and inflation was under control. "GST has started yielding results and till date 16 lakh new taxpayers were added to the list. Focus is on skill development and industrial development," he said.
A helping hand to deprived sections: Pawan Kalyan
VIJAYAWADA: Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, who has joined hands with the BJP recently, welcomed the budget introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Kalyan said the deprived sections of the society were given a helping hand in the budget. "The target to give `15 lakh crore as farm loans and the huge allocation made to the agriculture sector and setting a goal to double the income of farmers by 2022 will give a boost to the farmers," he said.
While thanking the Centre, Pawan Kalyan criticised the YSRC government for failing to get the desired budgetary allocations to the State. "Instead of focusing on demolishing structures (Praja Vedika), shifting of capital and scrapping (of PPAs), the government should have focused on getting sufficient budgetary allocations from the Centre," he said.