The marathon meeting of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy with Ministers at the Police Command Control Centre focused on the discrimination in the Union Budget and is said to have also discussed the unsavoury political developments within the party where a groups of MLAs have met over dinner targeting a senior Minister in the Cabinet.
At the end of the meeting, Ministers told reporters that the a serious view was taken over the Union Budget and the discrimination towards Telangana with not a single rupee financial commitment or project announced for the State.
Officials also gave a presentation on the funds from the Centre for the State schemes and development activities as the State gears up to present its own budget in a couple of months.
Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the Cabinet meeting on February 5 will discuss the comprehensive household survey report for determining the percentage of BC households in Telangana. The report will be placed in the Assembly.
Health Minister Damodar Rajnarsimha said the Cabinet would also discuss the one man commission report on the categorisation of SC reservation further discussing it in the Assembly.
MLAs ‘secret’ meeting
The issue of a few MLAs, most of them first-time MLAs, meeting over dinner raising the eyebrows within the government also came up for discussion. The Chief Minister is said to have dismissed it as a non-significant development with no political overtone.
The MLAs, (a few of them later denied they had participated), are said to have discussed majority funds being released only for the Ministers’ constituencies. Moreover, a Minister ignoring their requests funds was also discussed in the meeting.
A group among them is said to have decided to take up the issue with the Chief Minister personally and later send a letter to the party high command as well.
When contacted by The Hindu, some MLAs said they went assuming it was a casual dinner meeting and were surprised with the content that came up for discussion. Warangal (East) MLA Nayini Rajender Reddy said he was not in the meeting but his name cropped in a section of the media.
“I was with the Chief Minister from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and I am surprised my name being dragged into it,” he told The Hindu warning that he would lodge a complaint against the media houses that reported his name without seeking clarification.
Published – February 02, 2025 09:24 am IST