KCR’s single engine better than BJP’s double engine: Harish Rao

The average growth rate of agriculture in the country was just three per cent, whereas in Telangana it was 10 per cent in the last eight years.
KCR’s single engine better than BJP’s double engine: Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: Pooh-poohing BJP’s “braggadocio” that it would establish a double-engine rule in the state, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s ‘single engine’ government was much better than the saffron party’s ‘double engine’ model of governance.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Harish said that the growth of Telangana was better than any state of a double-engine government of the BJP. The average growth rate of agriculture in the country was just three per cent, whereas in Telangana it was 10 per cent in the last eight years.

“The per capita income increased from Rs 1.24 lakh to Rs 2.78 lakh in the last eight years. The State’s per capita income was three times higher than that of Uttar Pradesh. Telangana’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from four per cent to 4.9 per cent in the last eight years,” Harish said. The two-day BJP meetings had disappointed people.

Except for chanting the name of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, it did not discuss anything relating to the development of Telangana, Harish said. There was no discussion about implementing the pending assurances of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. The BJP had failed to explain how the double-engine government fares well than the single-engine TRS government, Harish said.

Telangana No. 2 in paddy production

“Union Home Minister Amit Shah talked about Neellu, Nidhulu and Niyamakalu. The TRS provided sufficient water to tillers under the Kaleshwaram project. That is why the paddy production has increased multi-fold in the State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself admitted that the Centre bought one lakh tonne of paddy from the State. We have provided water and the paddy production increased to a record 2.60 crore tonnes. Telangana is number two in the country after Punjab in paddy production,” Harish recalled and pointed out that “Telangana would have progressed even further if the State was given the funds that were legally due from the Centre.”

‘Where are the 2 crore jobs?’

The Centre, which assured to fill two crore jobs every year, failed to keep the promise. The State government filled over one lakh jobs. Yet, the BJP was making false allegations against the TRS government, Harish said. On the allegations that the State escalated the construction cost of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme, Harish Rao pointed out that the Central government accorded permission to the State to raise Rs 80,000 crore for the massive irrigation project.

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