KTR finds it convenient to accuse Congress govt., must pose queries to BJP govt. at Centre: Sridhar Babu 

Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu said BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao finds it convenient to hurl baseless accusations against the Telangana government while maintaining silence on BJP’s favouritism for projects set up in Gujarat.

Stating that Mr. Rao’s criticism of Kaynes Semiconductor project shifting from Hyderabad to Gujarat because of the Telangana government’s failure is ‘nothing but an outrageous lie’, Mr. Sridhar Babu said the truth is the BJP-ruled Centre and Gujarat government showered massive subsidies and lured the project.

“KTR knows this very well, but chooses to deliberately mislead people of Telangana with baseless allegations,” the Minister said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Centre approved 50% subsidy under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) for the Kaynes project being set up in Sanand, Gujarat. Once it was publicised that units established in Gujarat would automatically receive a 50% subsidy, semiconductor industries naturally leaned towards that State.

For Kaynes’ proposed project with an investment of ₹3,307 crore, “the Centre offered an extraordinary subsidy of ₹1,654.5 crore. On top of that, the Gujarat government extended another 40% of the central subsidy — amounting to ₹661 crore. Altogether, subsidies covered nearly 70% of the project cost, i.e., about ₹2,314.9 crore,” Mr. Sridhar Babu said.

Despite ISM’s promise of 50% support across India, the Centre has never shown such generosity towards States other than Gujarat, he said, adding the ‘step motherly treatment’ is something BJP alone must answer for.