Sharmila accuses Naidu, Jagan of resorting to blame game on Budameru flood

APCC president Y.S. Sharmila criticizes TDP and YSRCP for neglecting Budameru flood prevention, demands compensation and aid.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila on September 10 (Tuesday) slammed the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Opposition YSR Congress Party for “resorting to blame game on floods in Budameru.”

Speaking to the media after visiting the flood-hit areas in Old Rajarajeswaripet in Vijayawada, she said during the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure, Operation Kolleru was undertaken to prevent floods in the Budameru rivulet. The Budameru embankments were also repaired. But after YSR’s death, the project was abandoned.

The Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should explain why his government had neglected the Budameru issue in his earlier tenure. Similarly, the YSRCP president Jagan Mohan Reddy should explain to the people why his government had cancelled the project contracts allotted by his predecessor Mr. Naidu, she said.

Stating that the devastation caused by the floods was immense, Ms. Sharmila demanded a compensation of ₹1 lakh to each affected family and an immediate financial aid of ₹15,000.

She said the Chief Minister had announced an estimated loss of ₹6,800 crore due to the floods, but the Centre did not provide any aid so far. Funds to the tune of ₹10,000 crore were given to develop roads in Bihar, but the BJP-led government at the Centre had been neglecting even the immediate needs of Andhra Pradesh, she alleged.

Referring to the drinking water woes of the residents stranded in the marooned areas, she said the Centre did not respond so far to her plea to provide safe drinking water to them through the Indian Railways’ ‘Rail Neer’ scheme, through its plant in Visakhapatnam.

She said the Chief Minister should bring pressure on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction a grant of ₹10,000 crore to the State to tide over the crisis spawned by the floods.