AP, Telangana Sore Over Budget Ignoring Their Issues

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana today expressed displeasure at the Union Budget for "ignoring their issues".

AP MP Vijaya Sai Reddy described the Union budget as hopeless. He also lamented that the budget had ignored AP altogether. Stating that AP was relying heavily on agriculture now and that the budget failed to make any specific allocations for that, Reddy said that the budget was of little help to the state.

TRS MP Nama Nageshwar Rao and YSR Congress Party Parliamentary Party leader Vijaya Sai Reddy criticized the Union budget for taking no steps to address their respective states' problems.

Reacting to the budget outside Parliament, Rao said that the issues raised by Telangana were ignored by finance minister Sitharaman.

He sought to know why the bifurcation issues were not included in the budget, and why there were no allocations for the irrigation projects of the state and the bifurcation promises / commitments.

Telangana's growth rate was 18% and the Centre's was less than half of it, he said, and expressed surprise that the Centre did not make any specific allocations to Telangana which was contributing so much to the nation and which was developing in all sectors. "The union budget ignored even our appeal to set up a tribal museum," he said.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) head and MP Uttam Kumar Reddy said that except for some changes in income tax slabs, there was nothing new in the budget.

"There is nothing in the budget for the unemployed youth, farmers, women and students, and the sectors that generate jobs have been completely ignored. The budget speech was completely silent on the rising unemployment in the country which is at a 45-year high. The finance minister neither made a mention of unemployment nor proposed any measures to address the problem," he said.

He also said that the government did not specify how it planned to double the income of farmers by 2022.