Nadda slams Cong over 'North-South divide' narrative

Hyderabad, Jul 9 (PTI) Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Thursday hit out at the Congress for trying to create the 'North-South divide' narrative on devolution of tax and funds to southern states. Speaking at an event organised by Forum for Nationalist Thinkers here, he also alleged that the Congress government in Telangana has turned out to be an ATM to the party's central leadership. Referring to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's accusations against the Centre for not allocating funds to the state, Nadda said : "Revanth Reddy's mathematics is very weak. He always keeps on saying that the Centre has not given anything. These Congress people say the same complaint. They do the same thing in Himachal Pradesh (where Congress government is in power) also." The union minister said under tax devolution, Rs 2.74 lakh crore has been given to Telangana, adding that whatever is the state's share has been given to it. "They (Congress) tried to create a situation like 'south versus north'. Why do you say such wrong things? You get your due (in central allocations)," he said. Nadda said Rs 1.74 lakh crore has been allocated to Telangana towards laying National Highway and 2,674 kms of the National Highway network has been constructed over the last 10 years in the state. He further said 42 railway stations in Telangana have been redeveloped and state-of-the-art AIIMS, Bibinagar is being built. He accused the ruling Congress in Telangana of being an ATM to the party's central leadership. "I am not saying this. Reddy himself said Congress party is ready to give Rs 1,000 crore to Congress 'parivar' every year. Whose money is this? It is your money," Nadda said. He asked the gathering if they wanted such an 'ATM government'. In February this year, Reddy asserted that money is not a priority for Gandhi-Nehru family, saying if the Congress workers pooled funds, they could raise atleast Rs 1,000 crore for the family. Addressing a training programme organised at Vikarabad near here by AICC for District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Reddy accused the BJP of "insulting" Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by levelling allegations of corruption against them. Nadda, a former BJP president, further said during the last 12 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, a lot of development activities have been taken up in the country and there is a paradigm shift as far as Indian politics is concerned. He said PM Modi changed the political culture of the country and has redefined politics and has redefined democracy. "Previously, democracy used to mean you take support of every section of society and form a government and ultimately that government got converted to take care of a particular caste, of a particular area, of a particular set of people. It was not democracy by the people, for the people, of the people. It was by the people, but for a few selected ones. It was not for all. But he (Modi) changed the definition of Indian politics," Nadda said. He said when Modi became PM in 2014, the dynastic rule was replaced with merit, adding that 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas' was implemented in letter and spirit. He said under the Modi government, appeasement was stopped, politics of implementation, politics of accountability, politics of pro-responsiveness, pro active government have been witnessed. PTI VVK SJR VVK KH