Kishan Reddy misleading people on flood aid: KTR

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday blasted union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy for spreading falsehood about Central aid to Telangana from the National Disaster Relief Fund and sought an apology from the latter for misleading the people of the State.

“The union Minister is blatantly lying by giving false statistics. Instead of standing up in support of the people of Telangana during difficult times, Kishan Reddy, who is an MP from Telangana, is spreading lies,” he said, and asked: “Is it not the Central government’s responsibility to come to the rescue of the States affected by floods?”

Rama Rao said that Kishan Reddy, when asked about the allocations made by the Central government for Telangana under NDRF, was trying to confuse the people by quoting figures from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) which was the rightful share of Telangana under Article 280.

Urging Kishan Reddy to read the statement given by union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in Parliament where he clearly said that not a single penny was given to Telangana after 2018, the TRS working president said: “Is it not true that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself conducted a survey in flood affected areas of Gujarat and released Rs.1,000 crore NDRF special additional assistance in the form of advance in 2021?”

“Modi is blind to problems faced by the people of Telangana. We will keep questioning his discriminatory attitude,” the Minister said, addign that the SDRF was a constitutional right of every State. “The SDRF is one of the ways States get back the taxes paid by them to the Central government and Kishan Reddy should learn about this fact,” he said.

Rama Rao said the Centre was providing huge funds to flood-affected areas in BJP-ruled States and sending only inspection teams to non-BJP ruled States affected by floods. Since 2018, till date, Rs. 3,250 crore was allocated to Bihar, Rs. 4,530 crore to Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 6,490 crore to Karnataka and Rs.1,000 crore to Gujarat under NDRF funds. “Are these statistics not correct?” he questioned.

“When the Centre can allocate Rs. 15,270 crore to four BJP-ruled States, why can’t they provide special funds to Telangana in a similar way?” Rama Rao asked.

Asking Kishan Reddy to ensure similar funds for Telangana, he demanded that Kishan Reddy apologize to the people of Telangana for spreading lies about NDRF funds. If Kishan Reddy has any affection for Telangana, he should bring special funds for Telangana under NDRF or accept that the BJP government has given nothing for Telangana since 2018,” he said.

Stating that the Centre had not responded to multiple requests from the Telangana government which repeatedly appealed for allocation of special funds during floods in Hyderabad, he said the State government assessed the damage caused by the floods in the State and asked the Centre to allocate Rs. 1,400 crore.

According to Rama Rao, the Centre was trying to wash its hands off by just sending inspection teams from Delhi which will not do any good to the State. “Since Kishan Reddy does not have the courage to bring additional funds to Telangana from a high-level committee chaired by union Home Minister Amit Shah, he is spreading lies only to strengthen his position in his party and be a part of ‘Golmal Batch’ led by the Prime Minister,” he said.

“If Kishan Reddy as a union Minister representing Telangana fails to render justice to the people of Telangana, he will remain a loser in history,” Rama Rao added.