Alleging that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was lying on alleged denial of Central assistance, Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on Tuesday said the Centre had given in five years more than ₹62,000 crore under various heads.
“The Centre is ready to sanction more funds as and when the State accounts for the money already released,” he said addressing the BJP’s Shakti Kendra leaders from seven MP constituencies between Machilipatnam and Nellore here.
Construction of Capital
“There is no dearth of funds for the construction of the Capital, educational institutions and implementation of major projects taken up with Central assistance. But we cannot keep quiet if funds are diverted for other purposes.” He accused the TDP of turning into a realtor and usurping large tracts from the farmers on benami names for profiteering by the TDP men. Reeling out figures, he said the Centre had given ₹62,168 crore in five years for the construction of roads, educational institutions, including the AIIMS.
The Centre released ₹17,600 crore in 2014-15 and in the next four years ₹9,930 crore, ₹12,982 crore, ₹12,125 crore and ₹9,492 crore under various heads, and would release more funds once the State government had provided the Utilisation Certificate, he said.
Recalling that anti-Congress mood was the basis for founding the TDP by N.T. Rama Rao, he said the people were waiting for an opportunity to teach a lesson to the TDP for joining hands with the Congress, which was responsible for the people’s woes in the country.
Accusing the TDP of diverting ₹500 crore of the cash-strapped State for what he called “Adharma Porata Deeksha,” BJP national spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao demanded that the party reimburse to the State exchequer the money misused on carrying out a “goebbelsian” propaganda against the Centre.
Taking strong exception to renaming the Central schemes including housing, accidental insurance and cooking gas connection for BPL families to appear as if they were State government’s policies, he wanted the cadre to expose it.
Maintaining that the “corrupt” TDP should be ousted, BJP national secretary Sunil Deodhar, co-incharge of A.P. affairs, underscored the need for the BJP coming to power in the State to get maximum benefits from the Central schemes.
It was unfortunate that the Janmabhoomi Committees packed with TDP men had resorted to irregularities on a large scale in the selection of beneficiaries for the Central welfare schemes renamed after Mr. Naidu, alleged BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana.
The contractor for the Polavaram project fully funded by the Centre had been changed by the State government for the sake of kickbacks, he charged and questioned the TDP government on the slow progress in the multi-crore Veligonda irrigation project and the lack of response to repeated requests from the Centre for suggesting an alternative project for location of the second major port at Ramayapatnam as Dugarajapatnam had been found by experts as unviable.
Women’s wing national in-charge D. Purandeswari spoke.