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BJP bets big on Modi’s RFCL visit as balm for Munugode wound
Hyderabad: The Prime Minister visiting a State to dedicate a revived industrial project to the nation is not an unusual or unique event. But given the hype that the State unit of the BJP is trying to build over Narendra Modi‘s visit to the Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (RFCL) on November 12, there appears […]
Hyderabad: The Prime Minister visiting a State to dedicate a revived industrial project to the nation is not an unusual or unique event. But given the hype that the State unit of the BJP is trying to build over Narendra Modi‘s visit to the Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (RFCL) on November 12, there appears to be certain political connotations to the visit.
State unit chief Bandi Sanjay is even projecting the event at RFCL as a ‘great service’ from the BJP to farmers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Truth is that the revival project was over long ago, and commercial operations began in the plant in March last year. According to the RFCL website, RFCL declared its commercial operation of Ramagundam Unit on March 22, 2021. in the financial year 2022-23, RFCL has cumulatively produced 490633 MT neem coated prilled urea and dispatched 497512 MT neem coated prilled urea.
In short, after four months, it will be two years since the plant has been operational, and that is exactly why the sudden dedication and the BJP’s excitement over the PM’s visit raises eyebrows. The visit, political analysts point out, appears to be a ploy to divert attention from the humiliation the party suffered after being caught red-handed, literally, during the Moinabad farmhouse operation to purchase TRS MLAs. With the trashing that the BJP received in Munugode rubbing more salt into the wound, it is said that the party is trying to use Modi’s visit to divert attention from the Munugode debacle.
In fact, the visit also seems to be to tacitly downplay the role of the State in the plant’s revival even when the State government has an equity participation of 11 percent in the plant. Further, it was the State that acquired land, laid roads to the plant and also spent Rs.100 crore for supply of piped drinking water under Mission Bhagiratha to the plant’s new township. The State is also providing power to the plant apart from water for the plant from the Sripada Yellampalli Project.
Despite this, there has been no proper invitation from the Centre for the programme for the State, with a namesake invite being sent to the Chief Minister, asking him to attend the event.
The sudden interest from over the dedication of the project also comes after the severe criticism that the Centre was scuttling major projects intended for Telangana, most infamously the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project. Then there were the refusals and rejections, even of the clauses in the AP Reorganisation Act.
Starting from the Kazipet rail coach factory, which went to Gujarat, the refusal to allocate central educational institutions, a tribal university and the Bayyaram Steel Plant, the Modi government has always said a terse no to Telangana.
The political motives and agenda behind the hype over the dedication of the Ramagundam Plant is more evident when one remembers that the Centre has not allocated any new software technology park to Telangana, a State that is witnessing rapid progress of its IT sector; or the refusal to grant national status to the Kaleshwaram and Palamuru lift irrigation projects; or the blunt rejection of the NITI Aayog’s recommendation to allocate Rs.24,000 crore for projects such as Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha; or financial support to the Pharma City and also the refusal of a defence industrial corridor for Telangana. This is when even the International Trade Administration says Telangana has emerged as the most vibrant aerospace and defense ecosystem in India.
The list is endless, if one recalls that no Mega Powerloom Textile Cluster was allocated to Telangana and that no Turmeric Board was given to Nizamabad.
The Centre, instead, gave the World Health Organization’s Traditional Medicine Centre, initially announced for in Hyderabad, to Gujarat, while the newly established International Arbitration Centre in Hyderabad was ignored and another one set up in Gujarat.
Telangana, which is yet to forget that infamous speech by Modi in the Parliament, insulting the spirited Telangana Statehood Movement, will closely watch what Modi has to say this time, and how he tries to divert attention from Munugode and the Moinabad farmhouse.