Yanamala blames YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for raw deal

Amaravati: Former finance minister and TDP senior leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Monday slammed the Union Budget 2021- '22 for 'not providing any funds or projects' to fulfil the promises made for Andhra Pradesh in the AP Reorganisation Act.

Ramakrishnudu held Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy responsible for the Central government's raw deal to AP in the Union Budget. Alarmingly, there was no mention of AP in this year's budget. No funds for any metro rail or industrial corridor in the state. The Chief Minister and his party MPs owed an explanation to the people in this respect, he said.

In a statement here, the Opposition Leader in Legislative Council said that it became obvious that Jagan Mohan Reddy's visits to meet the Prime Minister and Union ministers were solely aimed at his own personal benefits and favours.

He objected to the manner in which the AP-specific projects were ignored under the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Corridor. Whereas, the Centre gave generous funds to the industrial corridors in Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Nagpur and other places. Huge funds were also allocated for the metro rail projects there but not in AP, he pointed out.

The TDP leader demanded that the Chief Minister explain why he failed to bring the Special Category Status to AP even though the people had given his party 22 MPs in the 2019 election.

He also said that the budget did not seek to attract private investments and no funds allocation was made for this purpose.