Rao pointed out that in 2025-26, Bihar was singled out with special mentions – from the Makhana Board to greenfield airports- and this year Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been considered for rare earth corridors.
“The pattern is unmistakable: election bound states are showered with visible, politically influential commitments, while others are relegated to indifference. Such selective generosity undermines the very spirit of federalism, privileging short-term political gains over long-term national priorities”, Rao said to ET in reaction to the Union Budget 2026.
He further alleged that despite being a powerhouse in IT, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and logistics, the state has been conspicuously absent from the last three Budget speeches which is not oversight, but a ‘deliberate exclusion’ of a state.
He listed out how despite Telangana’s sustained investments in electronics manufacturing parks and its global reputation in chip design, the Budget offered no cluster level recognition, even as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Karnataka were repeatedly highlighted.
“Such exclusions are not accidental; they lay bare how PLI, semiconductor missions, and capex procurement are consistently tilted toward politically privileged states. The result is uneven development, where national schemes exacerbate regional inequality rather than bridge it…Its exclusion from projects such as chemical parks, inland waterways, and rare earth exploration is not inadvertent – but wilful discrimination”, the BRS working President stated.
He underlined that that while Telangana’s pioneering ideas are ‘appropriated as Union schemes’ – from Rythubandhu being rebadged as PM Kisan to Mission Bhageeratha renamed as ‘Har Ghar Jal’ and Mission Kakatiya presented as Mission Amrit Sarovar; the state is not given due credit or importance.
Similarly, Rao argued that Telangana was ‘bypassed’ on new budgetary announcements like the flagship Biopharma Shakti despite the state’s Genome Valley and was also kept out of logistics -with no freight hubs or multimodal parks for the state- despite its pivotal role as the land linked distribution hub for southern and central India.
