TDP demands release of funds for Andhra Pradesh in Lok Sabha

TDP members today brought placards in the Lok Sabha to protest the Centre's alleged withdrawal of funds for Andhra Pradesh and demanded the Union government immediately release them.

Ram Mohan Naidu raised the issue but his party members were pulled up by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for bringing placards inside the House and then their attempt to show it after she allowed Naidu to speak.

"What do you want to show the people of India," she asked angrily.

A TDP member later tore some papers and threw them in the air as party MPs staged a walkout after Naidu's speech.

Naidu said the Centre had promised Rs 22,000 crore for seven backward districts of the state but has agreed to give only Rs 2050 crore, which is a "grave injustice".

The Centre had recently credited Rs 350 crore to the state's account but then withdrew it, he said, terming it as "unprecedented and shameful".

He alleged that it was done at the behest of the Prime Minister's Office.

He said it is being projected that the state's TDP government was not furnishing utilisation certificate and insisted that it was wrong as it is at the third position among all states in submitting proof of utilisation.

Among other issues, Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena raised the matter of deteriorating quality of public sector telecom companies BSNL and MTNL and wondered if they were hit by sabotage.

The BSNL still gets some government attention but the MTNL none, he said, demanding that the Centre give them as much financial assistance as required.

BJP's Om Birla said the



Rajasthan Eastern Canal Project should be declared a national project.

Trinamool Congress' Saugata Roy batted for using ballot papers in elections, saying the neutrality of electronic voting machines has been questioned and his party feels that they have been compromised.

EVMc should be scrapped so that there is "no manipulation by the ruling party and its cohorts".

Even advanced countries like the US and Germany use ballot papers, he said.

There is no proof that EVMs cannot be tampered with, he said, adding 17 opposition parties are planning a get together over the issue and approach the Election Commission.

CPI's M B Rajesh sought a probe into an alleged attempt to target Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during his recent overnight stay in the national capital.

A man armed with a deadly weapon reached right outside the room the chief minister was resting in but the Delhi Police did not intervene, he claimed.

The chief minister's security guards caught hold of him, he said and added threats to his life have been made.

BJP MP Santosh Ahlawat expressed concern over the threat of stray cattle to standing crops, causing anxious farmers to spend day and night in their farm land. A solution must be found, she said.

Raghu Sharma of the Congress attacked the government over lack of water in toilets built under the Swachh Bharat campaign.

He said people borrowed money to build toilets due to pressure of government officials but many of them have not got the promised Rs 12,000 and are forced to pay interest.