Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced that his government would boycott the meeting of NITI Aayog, scheduled to be held on 27 July, in protest against the alleged injustice meted out to the state in the Union Budget.

Meanwhile, the state assembly passed a resolution demanding that the Centre should amend its Budget proposals to ensure fair deal for Telangana.

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The resolution pointed out that the Centre’s failure to implement the promises made in the AP Reorganization Act had a negative impact on the development of the state.

Castigating the Centre for abandoning the federal spirit of the constitution, the state assembly registered a strong protest against the budget and appealed to the Central government to amend the budgetary proposals to undo the damage done to the state.

“We are boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on the 27th of this month. The Centre has violated the rights of Telangana. It has done an injustice to the state in the allocation of funds,” said the chief minister.

While moving the resolution in the assembly, Reddy said while the Centre collected taxes worth Rs 3.68 lakh crore in the past five years, the devolution in the same period was a mere Rs 1.68 lakh crore.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister lashed out at his predecessor and Leader of the Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao for failing to attend the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly, especially when the House was discussing the Union Budget presented yesterday.

He wondered “Why didn’t KCR attend the Assembly session and participate in this crucial discussion on the raw deal meted out by the Centre”. His claim that KCR was scared of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was countered by former BRS minister KT Rama Rao, who said the Opposition should be informed well in advance about the subjects to be taken up in the House for discussion. “There is no need for KCR to be present here as BRS MLAs present in the Assembly have the ability to answer Revanth Reddy,” he retorted.

The chief minister alleged BRS’s soft corner for the BJP citing various instances where the regional party had sided with the saffron party on the floor of Parliament and even accused BRS MLAs of visiting Delhi to make secret deals.

During the war of words between Reddy and KTR, the latter said, “I am appealing to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to lead his Cabinet colleagues and stage an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi until the Centre allocates funds to Telangana. All the BRS MLAs will also extend their support to the protest.”

Accepting the challenge, the chief minister said, “Please ask KCR to come to Jantar Mantar to stage a protest. I am also ready to take part in the protest along with him.”

Meanwhile in Delhi, Union minister G Kishan Reddy dismissed the resolution of the Telangana Assembly as “blackmail”. He said the BJP was able to get 35 per cent of votes in the state in the Lok Sabha polls for the hard work of the Modi Government for the development of Telangana in the past ten years.