HYDERABAD: Hitting back at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman’s remarks made earlier in the day, BRS MLC K Kavitha on Thursday wondered why the goals set by the Union government were so underwhelming compared to China.“The BJP government repeatedly says our competition is with China. Then why is our goal USD 5 trillion against China’s $18 trillion? ” Kavitha asked.
Stating that the country’s potential remains under-utilised due to myopic policies of the BJP-led government, Kavitha pointed out that the richest who hold 60% of the country’s wealth only contribute 3% to its GDP while the poorest of the poor contribute much more.“Our request to the Finance Minister would be to pay as much attention to the poorest or poor as the BJP does to its rich corporate friends,” Kavitha said.
“If you (the Centre) cannot unlock the potential of the nation, don’t blame the States. Telangana is progressive. If you cannot think progressively, please don’t blame us,” she said, asking the Centre not to hide behind its failures but instead discontinue its ‘No Data’ policy before the people of the country say ‘No Votes Available’.Kavitha was speaking to the media after Sitharaman’s blistering attack on the BRS government earlier in the day.
Pointing out that India has over 81. crore NREGS job card holders, she said that the money allocated for the scheme by the Centre was peanuts. “When asked, the Centre responds with answers like Aadhaar issues, fingerprint issues, etc, and decides to cut down the number of job card holders. This means you are trying to deprive the poorest of the poor minim-um wages. If we cannot ensure money in hands of the poor, where is social justice, which is the duty of the government?” asked the MLC.
Responding to Sitharaman mentioning medical colleges, she said: “The Modi government has a very selective way of giving funds to colleges, for Data Centres they overlooked all the favourable parameters and gave it to Gujarat. For Metro, they gave us nothing but awarded projects worth thousands of crores to Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Happy to see other States progress but what about the rest of the States?”
She said that she agrees with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s description of NDA as “No Data Available government”.