On the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the formation of Telangana, India's youngest state, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao slammed the Union Government in New Delhi for its discrimination towards the youngest state.
Rao was speaking at Public Gardens in Hyderabad, as part of Telangana Formation Day celebrations, after hoisting the national flag and paying tributes to countless martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the separate state movement.
The Telangana CM said, “It is unfortunate that the Centre is discouraging the progressive and development-oriented state. The discrimination started from the initial days of the formation of Telangana.”
He alleged that the centre had delayed the division of the united Andhra Pradesh High Court for 5 long years.
“After establishing our High Court, we procured the required employees, funds and buildings. The Supreme Court CJI had recently appreciated the Telangana government for its measures to strengthen the legal system. The Centre also did not pay heed to the Niti Aayog scheme, which recommended that the Centre release Rs 24,000 crore funds to Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya Schemes,” said KCR.
The CM bemoaned what he saw as the weakening of India's federal structure, to the detriment of the States and to the benefit of the Centre.
“The federal spirit of wanting to expand is shrinking,” he said, adding, “The government currently in power at the Centre is based on the conspiratorial, frivolous doctrine of ‘strong Centre – weak states’. That is why the violation of the rights of the states culminated in the reign of this government.”
He said the Centre was asking the states to strictly abide by FRBM but it was indiscriminately resorting to borrowings without adhering to any rules.
"The Centre's attitude has become a stumbling block for states like Telangana, which maintains financial discipline by managing loans and investment expenditure within FRBM limits. I demand that the Center immediately reconsider and lift the economic sanctions imposed on the states and stop any further violation of the rights of the states," he said.
KCR said the Centre's attitude towards Telangana state, which is working with financial discipline and prudence and well within the FRBM limits, was creating a major problem. Telangana state is losing Rs 5,000 crore every year as it refused to implement the anti-farmers power reforms of the Centre.
"In five years, the state lost Rs 25,000 crore. If we want these Rs 25,000 crore we have to install meters at the farmers well and collect the power charges. That is not our policy. The state is not to accept any policy that creates a burden on farmers. I will not accept these anti-farmer power reforms as long as I am alive. People's welfare in the state is very important to me," he added.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, commonly known as the Telangana Act, is an Act of Indian Parliament that bifurcated the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state, as an outcome of the Telangana movement.
The Act defined the boundaries of the two states, determined how the assets and liabilities were to be divided, and laid out the status of Hyderabad as the permanent capital of new Telangana state and temporary capital of the Andhra Pradesh state.
The 2014 bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 18 February 2014 and in the Rajya Sabha on 20 February 2014. The bill was attested by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 1 March 2014 and published in the official Gazette on 2 March 2014, where as 2 June 2014 is the 'appointed day' according to the act. The new states were created on 2 June 2014.
