Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy said that the TRS government had never sought national project status for the Kaleshwaram project earlier and wondered why the party did not fight to get it incorporated in the A.P. Reorganisation Act when it was being debated in Parliament.
“Claiming Telangana is a rich State, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao took up the massive project and instead of trying to complete the work, he is now unfairly trying to drag the Centre into the issue. Neither the Congress nor the BJP have promised to give the project a national status,” he said here on Sunday.
Interacting with presspersons before leaving to New Delhi to participate in the winter session of Parliament Mr. Reddy said the Centre has been funding Polavaram project since it was part of the AP Reorganisation Act. The NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not believe in discriminating against any State, he said and assured that the Centre is willing to fund 11 unfinished irrigation projects here.
The Union Minister also advised the chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to sort out the APSRTC division of assets pointing out that “anyway they are having meetings and dinners often”. He also urged Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to immediately take up talks with the striking TSRTC workers, giving up the “stubborn stance” and bring an end to the impasse as the general public have been bearing the brunt for more than 40 days now. The Centre had no role to play as it was a State subject, he claimed.
The government was ready to answer any question posed by the Opposition parties during the Parliament session, he said. The focus of the government was to provide basic amenities to the people like providing potable drinking water, health and education.
There was no proposal to have Hyderabad as the second national capital and the government would want to hold discussions in the river link-up projects, new education and health policies. There would be no compromise on security and safety of the country and it would root out terrorism with an iron hand. The situation in Kashmir has been peaceful ever since Article 370 was abrogated, Mr. Reddy added.
