Former Finance Minister and TDP polit bureau member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu held Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy responsible for the steep fall in the budgetary allocations and releases from the Central government to the State.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said that the Chief Minister had remained silent on the Union Budget though Andhra Pradesh has got a raw deal. It appeared as though Mr. Jagan had mortgaged the State’s interests to come out clean from the cases he was facing. He failed miserably in apprising the Central government and the 15th Finance Commission on the State’s finances and losses suffered by the State at the time of bifurcation. Instead of winning favour, the Chief Minister had invited the wrath of the Centre by scrapping the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). The end result was poor allocations to the State in the Union Budget, the TDP leader said.
Mr. Jagan used to make tall claims that he would get the Special Category Status to (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh if the YSR Congress Party got 22 MP seats. Leave alone getting the SCS, Andhra Pradesh has suffered a loss of ₹1,521 crore due to the failure of the Chief Minister as the State’s share has come down by 0.2% in fund devolution by the 15th Finance Commission. There was a reduction in the Central pool and share in the schemes, and zero fund allocation to the Polavaram project, Mr. Yanamala said.
The Chief Minister himself had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the State did not require funds for Amaravati Capital, he pointed out.
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