Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, flanked by Ministers, addresses a press conference at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Saturday
HYDERABAD: “I have no enmity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally. Modi gaaru naaku manchi mitrudu. (Modi is my good friend). I have no personal animosity, not at all. But, I will fight with him for the interests of the people, for the sake of the State, and for the sake of the country.
When Modi adopts anti-people policies, I will raise my voice, as long as I am alive. Raising my voice is my fundamental right and it is my duty as a citizen of this country. If necessary, I will start a movement against Modi,” Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said at the media conference here on Saturday.
Rao said that when the State said that it would take legal recourse, the Centre then increased the borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act by Rs 10,000 crore. “We have proposed to take Rs 54,000 crore FRBM loans. The Centre so far permitted to take Rs 39,000 crore. The pending amount is Rs 15,000 crore. We are fighting for the Rs 15,000 crore,” the Chief Minister said.
He further said: “The States depend, for their development works, on open market borrowings in accordance with the provisions of the FRBM Act. However, recently the Centre has included the borrowings of State PSUs for their capital needs to be treated as State government borrowings. This was not only done but with a clause of retrospective implementation, which put brakes on the progress of Telangana and many other States, as the works taken up with these borrowings are for development of public infrastructure, in turn would promote development, growth and employment. This discrimination is a practice perpetrated against the States, without any compunction, even while the Government of India resorts to indiscriminate open market borrowings,” Rao said.
NEW SCHEMES
The Chief Minister said that the State government would give Asara pensions to 10 lakh more people taking the total beneficiaries in the State to 46 lakh. Rao said that the new pensions would be given on August 15, marking the 75th Independence Day.
■ Around 12,000 dialysis patients too will get Asara pensions
■ As many as 75 prisoners will be released
■ Orphan children will be treated as State children
