Slamming the Centre for once again overlooking Telangana, BRS leader and former finance minister Harish Rao Friday said that both the Congress and the BJP failed the state as the Union government sanctioned Rs100 crores for Godavari Pushkaralu although the river flows through both the Telugu states.

The Godavari Pushkaralu (worshipping the river) will be held in June-July of 2027. The former minister expressed his dismay over the central allocation to Andhra Pradesh though Telangana has eight BJP MPs including two central ministers.

Former finance minister T Harish Rao took to social media platform ‘X’ to express his disappointment over Centre’s injustice meted out to Telangana. The river Godavari enters Telangana from Maharashtra and after flowing through the state it enters Andhra Pradesh before meeting the sea. Rao wrote, “Centre gives Rs 100 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Godavari Pushkaralu but Telangana gets a big zero ! 8 BJP MPs, 2 Union ministers from Telangana, yet not a single rupee for our state.”

Lashing out at both the BJP and the Congress, he said the BRS would not have allowed this to happen. “BJP and Congress have miserably failed to fight for Telangana’s due share. If BRS was in a strong position in the Lok Sabha, we would never allow this injustice,” he said. It may be pertinent to point out that the BRS failed to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha and both the national parties — Congress and BJP — won 8 seats each while the remaining one went to AIMIM.

Harish Rao also pointed out that the state was denied its due share during the Union Budget as well. Since the survival of the Modi government at the Centre is dependent on TDP and JD(U), Bihar and Andhra Pradesh got the lion’s share of the funds among the states. “In the Union Budget, Telangana got zero while Andhra Pradesh received Rs15,000 crore in additional grants. Is Telangana being sidelined again? Why this constant bias? Telangana demands its rightful share and equal treatment with other states – nothing less!” thundered Harish Rao.

Yesterday BRS working president KT Rama Rao had reposted that the total tax devolution of the Centre for Southern states was less than that of Uttar Pradesh. While UP got Rs 31,962 crore, the five southern states got Rs 28,152 crore only in total from the Centre.