HYDERABAD

Former Minister and senior leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) T. Harish Rao has alleged that the Congress has made several promises to minorities in the State as part of the Minorities Declaration but had failed to keep any of them including the promise to allocate ₹4,000 crore for minorities development and welfare in the budget.

Participating in a programme organised by the Telangana Turaka Kasha Welfare Association at Gajwel on Sunday, he criticised the government for failing to fulfil its promises to minorities, farmers and the poor. “Before KCR became Chief Minister, the minority budget was only around ₹300 cror, but it was gradually increased to ₹1,800 crore by the BRS government”, he noted.

The Congress party had promised to increase the budgetary allocation to minorities to ₹4,000 crore, but today the government was hardly spending only around ₹1,300 crore. He alleged that minorities were not receiving proper support from the Minority Finance Corporation and said the Congress Government had failed the minority communities.

Harish Rao said KCR had provided overseas scholarships to minority students on the same lines as SC, ST and BC students. Around ₹1,550 crore was provided as overseas scholarships to minority students during the BRS regime. In the last three years, the Congress Government had provided only ₹14 crore for the purpose, he pointed out.