Telangana: Union minister offers Rs 10 lakh to panchayats if they elect BJP-backed candidates

Union minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday offered Rs 10 lakh in funding for villages in his Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency if they unanimously elect sarpanch candidates backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Telangana panchayat elections.

Kumar said that as an MP, he has the funds available to him under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. Under the scheme, each MP is entitled to recommend projects worth Rs 5 crore per year based on the needs of the constituency.

“You already know how we have brought in crores [of rupees] through CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] and invested them in improving education and healthcare,” he said on social media. “As a Union minister, I will secure even more central funds to strengthen panchayat development.”

The BJP leader added: “I will directly fund Rs 10 lakh for that village's development - no delays, no excuses.”

The polls will take place in mid-December.

The Union minister of state for home affairs said that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government in Telangana had promised Rs 5 lakh to “unanimous panchayats”.

“Trusting that, nearly 70 villages in the Karimnagar Parliament area elected BRS candidates unanimously,” he said. “Even after five years, not a single rupee was released by the KCR [K Chandrashekar Rao] government.”

The Congress government in the state also made similar promises and “cheated people in the name of unanimous elections”, the former BJP state chief said.

“Those who trusted Congress and BRS ended up suffering financially,” he said, adding that “both parties are now preparing to repeat the same deception”.

Kumar said that only the BJP “brings real funds”, and that if candidates backed by the Congress or the BRS win, “new funds will not come, and even central funds may get diverted”.

“Don't fall for their tricks. Don't fall for their inducements,” he added.

The comment by Kumar came days after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday told voters in Malegaon that development funds for the region would be assured only if they elected candidates from his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party in the December 2 local body elections.

“I will ensure there is no shortage of funds if you elect all 18 NCP candidates,” he was quoted as saying. “If you elect all 18 candidates, I am committed to give whatever I have promised. But if you reject, I will also reject. You have votes, I have funds.”

Pawar, the finance minister in the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition government, defended his comments on Sunday.

The Opposition in Maharashtra accused Pawar of threatening voters, stating that public funds come from taxpayers and “not from Ajit Pawar's house”.

The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Office had in April 2024 ordered a probe after Pawar had said in Baramati that development funds would be released only if voters backed the Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections.

Source: Scroll
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