Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday disputed the Centre’s claim that there is no impact of the economic slowdown in the country.

He said the Centre is making tall claims on a daily basis, both in the Parliament and outside, that there is no effect of economic slowdown in the country, but the facts are quite different.

Stating that there is a decline in the funds received from the Centre towards the state’s share in taxes, he said there is no match between what the Central ministers are proclaiming in the Parliament and the ground realities.

He warned that if this situation continues, the state’s financial position may turn grave.

KCR, as the Chief Minister’s is popularly known, said that the economic situation is in a state of uncertainty and asked the Principal Secretary (finance) to decrease funds for all the departments in tune with the decrease in funds from the Centre. He also instructed all the departments to reduce expenditure.

Tthe Chief Minister also dashed a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urging her to release funds to the state as stipulated in the Budget or else declare the facts.

KCR is also planning to visit Delhi in the next five-six days to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sitharaman to apprise them of the difficulties faced by the state with funds not being released from the Centre.

According to an official statement, the review meeting conducted by the Chief Minister with top officials on Saturday felt that faulty polices of the Centre led to the present difficult situation.

It was noted that the Centre announced in the 2019-20 Budget that it will give Rs 19,719 crore to Telangana towards the state’s share in taxes. This is 6.2 per cent more than Rs 18,560 crore allocated in the 2018-19 Budget.

“However, till date the Centre gave Rs 224 crore less. This would mean that as against 6.2 per cent hike as proposed in the current financial year Budget, there is in fact a decline of 2.13 per cent,” the statement said.

Principal Secretary (finance) Ramakrishna Rao recently visited Delhi and brought to the notice of the Central government officials that Telangana got 8.3 per cent less on the tax share account. He said due to the decrease in the funds allocation, several schemes in the state would face difficulties.

Responding to him, the Central government officials said the situation is grim and cautioned that the decrease may well go up from 8.3 per cent to 15 per cent.

The meeting observed that the Centre also failed to give Rs 2,812 crore IGST funds as part of GST for 2017-18.

Also, the state is yet to receive Rs 1,719 crore GST compensation dues from the Centre.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday left for New Delhi all of a sudden to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

His sudden visit has fuelled speculations over KCR attempting to get closer to BJP and Modi again.

However, TRS sources rubbished these speculations saying that KCR’s Delhi visit has no ‘political significance’.

They said, the sole purpose of KCR’s visit is to get approval of PM for setting up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), the premier management institutions in the country, in Hyderabad.

KCR is expected to get appointment of Modi on Tuesday.

The PM is expected to give a formal approval for setting up an IIM in Hyderabad, during the meeting with the CM.

Telangana state government has been requesting the Centre to sanction an IIM to Telangana for the past two years.

During his previous meeting with Modi in October first week, KCR again raised this issue and submitted a memorandum to PM in this regard. The PM has referred the issue to the union ministry of human resource development.

The proposal for setting up the IIM was expedited after the Prime Minister’s Office referred the issue to the UMHRD in November last week asking it to take a decision on the requests received from the Telangana State which includes one from the state’s Chief Minister. A week was given to the UMHRD to come to a decision.

Following this, it is learnt that the union ministry of human resource development had prepared a proposal for setting up IIM in Hyderabad and a Cabinet note has been readied for approval.

Finally, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has found time to respond on the brutal rape of murder of Dr Priyanka Reddy, which happened in his own state ruled by him.

Though national leaders like Rahul Gandhi, top political leaders in other states including TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, union ministers, top actors, actresses of Bollywood, Tollywood expressed their shock and anguish at the incident and demanded corporal punishment for the rapists, KCR chose to remain silent.

Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who happens to be the first citizen of the state, also made personal visit to Priyanka Reddy’s house on Saturday to console the family members but KCR did not even respond even four days after the ghastly incident took place.

Finally on Sunday, KCR broke his silence on Priyanka’s issue. During a meeting held with RTC workers at Pragathi Bhavan, CM spoke about Priyanka Reddy’s murder and expressed his shock and anguish over the incident.

KCR has instructed the officials that the accused of Dr Priyanka Reddy’s ghastly murder should be inquired on a fast track and the culprits should be given stringent punishment.

The CM also decided to set up a fast track court to deal with the case. The CM has asked the officials concerned to take measures on the issue. In the minor girl murder case in Warangal, due to setting up of the fast track court, the verdict came after 56 days trail. The CM felt that in Dr Priyanka Reddy case too, the verdict should come quickly. The CM announced that the government would extend all the necessary help and support to members of Dr Priyanka Reddy’s family.

Earlier, the CM described the incident as ghastly and expressed his deep anguish. He was upset that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are living amidst us. He said Dr Priyanka Reddy’s murder was a gruesome and an inhuman act.