Harish takes the wind out of Nirmala’s sails

Hyderabad: State Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Friday lashed out at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for spreading ‘lies’ against schemes implemented by the Telangana government. He dared her to prove that Telangana was not enforcing Ayushman Bharat Scheme. If so, he is ready to quit the minister’s post, Harish said while addressing the media.

Rao, who is also the Health Minister, took strong exception to Nirmala’s comment that Telangana re-christened the Central schemes and implemented them. He asked the Union minister to name at least a single Central scheme which is being copied and implemented by the State government. “The State government is implementing schemes like Asara pension, ‘Kalyana Laxmi’ and ‘Shadi Mubarak’, ‘Rythu Bandhu’ and ‘Rythu Beema’. Is there any single rupee share of the Modi government in these schemes being implemented by the government,” he questioned the Union minister.

Rao also found fault with the statement of Sitharaman who said that the Telangana government is implementing ‘ Mana Ooru Mana Badi’ scheme with the Central funds and said that it was a ‘blatant lie’.

He also denied her allegation that the TRS government is not implementing the Union government’s ‘Fasal Bheema Yojana’ scheme for farmers. Rao asked her why the same scheme is not being implemented in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State.