VIJAYAWADA: YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy has described the Union Budget 2022 as a “no one’s Budget”. Vijayasai alleged that the State was given a step-motherly treatment even as the Union Finance Minister is a daughter-in-law of the State.
Participating in the general discussion on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Vijayasai Reddy said they had initially thought that the Union Finance Minister would present a UP and Punjab budget (as the two States were going for polls), but the Budget turned out to be no one’s.
“I can confidently say it is a stylish budget with no substance. In other words, it is like the operation is successful, but the patient dies. The finance minister might think that the Budget is good for the country but it is a bad one for Andhra Pradesh,’’ he said. Vijayasai went on to add that the union Finance Minister talks about Atmanirbhar Bharat, but asked where is the Atmanirbharata of States. Alleging that the Centre is using manipulative practises to reduce share of State taxes from the Central pool, Vijayasai said it was deliberately increasing cess and surcharges in its gross tax revenues, which is not shared with the States.
The share of AP in the central pool of taxes is coming down year after year and this is nothing but a step-motherly treatment, he alleged.
Comparing the expenditure of the State on crucial sectors with that of the Centre, the YSRC MP said AP was spending 5.9 per cent of its total expenditure on agriculture while the Centre was spending only 3.8 per cent. Similarly, while the State is spending 11.8 per cent of its total expenditure on education, the Centre is spending just 2.6 per cent.
“AP is spending more on these sectors than the Centre despite its financial crisis due to the step-motherly treatment of the Centre,’’ he said.
Vijayasai said the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 by the then union minister Jairam Ramesh was a loosely drafted one and the BJP was taking advantage of it now.
Vijayasai said the most chanted mantra of the BJP government ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka viswas aur sabka prayas’ was not put practically in the Budget.
“The government added one element to it every year. First year it was ‘sabka saath’ and three elements were added to it later on,’’ he said and added that the Budget, however, did not give ‘Saath’ (together) to the States, no vikas (development) to the States, does not taken the States into viswas (confidence) and there is no support to the prayas (efforts) of the States.
Greyhounds Training Centre
To a question by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao, Union Minister of State for Home affairs Nityanand Rao said the Centre has approved the proposal for setting up of a state-of-the-art Greyhounds Training Centre in AP at a cost of Rs 219.16 crore in 2018 and the ministry had released Rs 9.08 crore to the State government for the project. “In the Southern Zonal Council meeting held on November 14 last year, it has been recommended to fund the entire cost of land by the Centre on the condition that 50 per cent of training slots are provided to agencies of the Government of India,’’ Nityanand Rai said.