Upset over the Union Budget of 2023-2024, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Thursday put up posters in Hyderabad targeting the ruling BJP government at the Centre for not allocating funds to Telangana.

The posters read, “Telangana gets zero in Union Budget.” The BRS is particularly upset after poll-bound Karnataka got Rs 5,300 crore while Telangana was overlooked while allocating funds for various projects in the states.

In the past, whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state, the BRS used such posters asking for funds for projects promised to the state during bifurcation and questioning the Centre’s “step-motherly treatment” towards Telangana.

Meanwhile, a day after the Budget, Telangana’s industry minister KT Rama Rao made a strong pitch for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to lead the country in front of industry captains claiming that India can reach the milestone of 15 trillion economy with KCR at the helm.

The BRS had slammed yesterday’s Union Budget for being a dud not only for the state but for the nation’s growth as well.

Addressing the 25th National Conference of National HRD Network (NHRDN), Rao compared India with China and Japan and said these countries excelled because they focused on development while India’s focus was on politics.

While signing off after delivering the plenary talk on the topic, “Decoding the Economic Future: Hyderabad as catalyst for 5T Economy” Rama Rao praised the chief minister as someone who understands the problems of the grassroots and deployed the state’s human resources in a methodical fashion to achieve these goals and listed out Telangana’s achievements in past eight years.

He concluded by saying: “If only the rest of India can work like Telangana, if only the rest of India can be led by a leader like KCR then 5 trillion is a joke. I think we can reach a 15 trillion economy as soon as possible.”

However, YSRTP leader YS Sharmila meanwhile dared the chief minister to walk for three km along with her to a firsthand experience of the problems of the people of the state. She even gifted a new pair of shoes to KCR with an invitation to walk along with her in order to know the problems of the people.

“This is as per your size and there is a bill to exchange the shoes if they don’t fit,” she said, adding, “If in fact KCR says this is the golden state, there are no problems and people are not reeling under poverty, then I will apologise to KCR and retire from politics and return home.”