AP, Telangana Upset With Union Budget 2019

The Union Budget for 2019 presented today by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman left the two Telugu States in despair by not allocating adequate funds to them, according to political parties.

The budget allotted a mere Rs 80 crore to the IIT in Hyderabad, and the Finance Minister made no mention of the bifurcation issues and the promises made in the A P Reorganization Act of 2014, the political parties felt.

The Central University in Andhra Pradesh got Rs 13 crore and the tribal varsity Rs 8 crore, and the Tirupati IIT did not get any funds.

The budget also did not make any announcement of funds to key institutions like the IIM, the IISR, the IIIT and others in the two Telugu States.

There was also no mention of funds for Amaravathi (the capital city of AP), the Polavaram project or the State's revenue deficit.

The TRS and the YSRCP expressed displeasure at the non-allocation of funds to key projects and schemes. TRS MP Nama Nageshwara Rao termed the Union Budget "hopeless". He expressed pain at the non-allocation of subsidy for irrigation projects. "We expected some new projects for Telangana, but the Centre failed to offer any," Nama said. He added that there was nothing new in the budget.

Another TRS MP K Prabhakar Reddy alleged that the BJP was conspiring against Telangana.

Congress MP Revanth Reddy said that the Centre was showing a partisan attitude towards the southern States. No irrigation project had received any funds in the Union budget and there was no funding for education or jobs, he railed. He alleged that the Centre was giving only 65 paisa in return for every Rs 1 it took from the southern States as taxes.

YSRCP MP Vijaya Sai Reddy expressed his displeasure at the Union budget for failing to allocate funds for AP's capital city, the State's projects, its institutions and its other schemes. Despite AP suffering a financial deficit of Rs 60,000 crore, the Centre did not make any allocations for the State, he said.