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Andhra Pradesh Budget mere jugglery of numbers, says State Congress president Y.S. Sharmila
The Hindu
APCC president Y.S. Sharmila criticizes Andhra Pradesh State Budget as lacking vision, wisdom, and adequate funding for key schemes.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila on Friday (February 28, 2027) termed the State Budget a jugglery of numbers. “The Budget reflects neither vision nor wisdom. There is no mission either, it is illusionary,” she posted on X.
Finding fault with the government for “ignoring its election promises”, she said the Budget allocation had reduced the concept of ‘Super Six” to ‘super flop.’ She said ₹6,300 crore for implementation of Annadata Sukhi Bhava scheme was far from adequate.
Ms. Sharmila said funds to the tune of ₹11,000 crore were required for the 54 lakh farmers in the State waiting for aid but they were being made to wait for the Centre to release matching grants. She said allocation of only ₹300 crore towards price stabilisation was betrayal when the farmers were struggling in the absence of fair prices for their hard-earned produce.
Referring to the much-awaited ‘Thalli ki Vandanam’ scheme, she said only ₹9,407 crore were allocated, against the requirement of ₹12,600 crore to cover 84 lakh students in the State. “Does this mean that the government intends to reduce the number of beneficiaries under this scheme?” she wondered. A sum of ₹4,500 crore would be required for supply of free gas cylinders for beneficiaries of Deepam-2 scheme every year, but an allocation of only ₹2,601 crore had been made, she said, adding that the government needed to clear if it intended to cut the number of beneficiaries to half under this scheme.
“There is no mention of the free bus travel scheme for women. In a ₹3 lakh crore Budget, the government could not allocate a mere ₹350 crore per month required to implement this programme,” she said, adding that the ‘Maha Shakti’ scheme that promised a monthly financial assistance of ₹1,500 to the beneficiaries was scrapped.