BJP backs sarpanchs’ stir, alleges ₹640 crore fund diversion

BJP Telangana president N. Ramchander Rao on Monday demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy immediately release Central funds to gram panchayats, alleging diversion of funds, and clear all pending dues.

Mr. Rao was speaking to the media after meeting representatives of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Telangana State Sarpanchs’ Association, who called on him at the BJP State office here. He claimed that the BJP has been consistently maintaining that the State government has been ‘diverting’ funds released by the Centre under the 15th Finance Commission. As a result, sarpanchs have been unable to pay for completed works, leading to ‘immense pressure’, with some even allegedly resorting to suicide.

He recalled that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, when he was the State Congress chief, had promised justice to sarpanchs and the release of pending bills. However, Mr. Rao said that even after two-and-a-half years of Congress rule, those promises remain unfulfilled.

Although new sarpanchs have already assumed charge, the State government is ‘diverting around ₹640 crore released by the Centre under the 15th Finance Commission’, he alleged, adding that this has triggered a severe crisis at the village level.

As a result, gram panchayats are unable to pay salaries to staff and sanitation workers and small-scale developmental works have come to a complete standstill, he charged. Mr. Rao declared the BJP’s full support to the agitation launched by the Sarpanchs’ Association.