Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the full Budget for 2024-25 in the Legislative Assembly at 12 noon on Thursday. In February, Bhatti had presented an interim budget in view of the Lok Sabha elections with an outlay of Rs 2.75 lakh crore. It is expected that the full budget would also be more or less similar to interim Budget with an outlay in the range of Rs 2.75 lakh crore to Rs 2.90 lakh crore.The state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, will meet in the committee hall of the Legislative Assembly at 9 am on Thursday and approve the Budget. This will be the Congress government’s first full budget for Telangana after it came to power in December 2023. It is expected that there will be higher allocations for implementing Six Guarantees promised by the Congress during Assembly polls. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Bhatti Vikramarka slammed opposition parties — the BRS and the BJP — accusing them of prioritising their selfish political interests over state’s interests. He criticised the lack of expected support from the opposition during the debate in the House on the Centre’s discrimination towards Telangana in the Union Budget. “The interests of the state should be the ultimate interest of all of us,” stated Bhatti Vikramarka, expressing disappointment that the opposition, particularly the BRS and the BJP, which, he felt, seemed more focused on political gains than on the welfare of the state. Bhatti Vikramarka lamented that the funds promised to Telangana through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, brought by former UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have not been delivered. “It is sad that the funds that should be given to the state of Telangana as a right by this Act have not been given,” he said. He clarified that while there is no resentment towards neighbouring Andhra Pradesh receiving funds, the issue lies in the Centre’s neglect of Telangana. The Deputy Chief Minister also criticised the BRS, alleging that despite claiming to prioritise Telangana’s interests, they failed to argue strongly against the Central government’s discrimination. He accused BRS MLAs of diverting from the main issue due to fear of displeasing the BJP government at the Centre. “Fearing that the BJP government at the Centre would get angry, the BRS MLAs talked about other than the resolution on the Centre’s discrimination to be passed in the House,” he remarked. Bhatti Vikramarka urged the BRS to set aside political expediency and collaborate with the government for the state’s benefit. He recalled past discussions on topics like the Palamuru Ranga Reddy lift project, ITIR, Bayyaram Steel Plant, IAM, Navodaya Schools, and various industrial corridors, highlighting the lack of central funding for these initiatives. “The central government should not ignore the fact that a group of states is a nation,” he asserted, calling for unity in demanding rightful funds for Telangana. Bhatti Vikramarka dismissed K.T. Rama Rao’s suggestion for Cabinet ministers to go on a hunger strike along with the Chief Minister, proposing instead a united approach to meet the Prime Minister in Delhi. “All the political parties who put the interests of the state as the highest priority should come to Delhi with us and respectfully meet the Prime Minister and ask for funds,” he said.
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