BJP blames TRS for not submitting Hyd flood reports to Centre over non-release of funds

Telangana did not receive flood relief funds from the Centre as no reports related to the floods were sent, despite being asked three times, said Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishen Reddy on Sunday. The BJP leader was responding to criticism from the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) working president and Minister K T Rama Rao (KTR), who alleged that flood relief funds were being released only for BJP-ruled states.

In a statement issued to the press, Kishen Reddy said, "The state government was asked to submit a comprehensive flood report on three occasions but failed to submit it. Now it is blaming the Centre for non-release of funds," adding, “The Chief Minister thinks that if flood relief funds are released by the Centre, his party cannot win the GHMC polls. Hence the state government didn’t submit a report to the Centre.”

The statements were in response to remarks made by KTR, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD), at a news conference on Sunday. KTR, who is also the working president of the TRS party, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ignoring requests from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The Chief Minister had written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking immediate financial support towards relief and rehabilitation measures in flood-hit areas of Hyderabad.

"The Prime Minister sanctioned Rs 669 crore within four days to Karnataka following floods in that state. He personally visited flood-hit areas of Gujarat in 2017 and released Rs 500 crore. It has been about 25 days since Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao wrote a letter to the Prime Minister seeking the release of Rs 1,350 crore as immediate relief but we still haven't received a response," KTR said.

"Our Prime Minister responds to letters written by Karnataka and Gujarat Chief Ministers but not to letters written by the Telangana Chief Minister. Is Telangana not a part of India? Does the Prime Minister not have the responsibility to help Hyderabad city and its people," he asked.

The war of words between the two leaders began after the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office on Saturday issued a statement saying that despite heavy losses incurred by the state due to heavy rains and floods, the Union government made empty promises and did not take any action and failed to release funds to the state.

BJP leader Kishen Reddy, however, criticised the Chief Minister for not having the time to console the affected families even after 40 deaths were reported and asked, "Why couldn’t CM visit the people?”