Congress ridicules TD remarks on budget

Vijayawada: The city Congress leaders here on Wednesday ridiculed the Telugu Desam leaders' criticism of the State budget and asserted that the 2013-14 budget was the best ever budget presented in the State. Speaking to the media persons, City Congress working president Meesala Rajeswara Rao took exception to the criticism of the TD leaders Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao and Krishna district unit president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao that the budget has no direction and had nothing for the poor people. He said that the budget contained special allocations for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Minorities, besides the sub-plan allocations. The budget also has additional allocations for the mess charges of the students from Class VII to the post graduation, he added. He further said that the State had created record by presenting special action plan for agriculture brining 14 allied departments together. He said that action plan for agriculture was a history in the country and shows the government's commitment to the agriculture sector. He sought to advise the TD leaders to take a positive look at the budget rather than criticising it for the sake of criticism. The city Congress chief took the TD leaders' criticism in lighter vein and wanted to know whether Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao would be happy if the government allocated funds to establish country bomb manufacturing units in the State or Devineni Umaheswara Rao liked special funds to promote sand mafia in the State. The Congress leader said that people in the State cutting across the political affiliations were happy about the budget for the allocations made to every section. He said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy have proved their commitment to the welfare of the neglected sections of the society and have made special allocations for them. Rajeswara Rao said that any educated person in the State would welcome the budget for its welfare-direction. He further said that the Congress leaders in the State would be able to answer the criticism of the TD leaders on the budget in comparison with the Telugu Desam's budget from 1995 to 2003. The Congress leaders U Dhanaraj and others were present at the press conference.