Cong govt attempting to defame previous BRS regime, alleges Rama Rao

PTI, Dec 24, 2023, 6:10 PM IST

Alleging that the white paper on state finances released by the Congress government in Telangana was full of errors and lies, the opposition BRS on Sunday said the gross loans made during its regime was only Rs 3,17,015 crore and not Rs 6,71,757 crore as projected by the government.

BRS Working President K T Rama Rao, who made a power point presentation on the financial situation and progress achieved when his party was in power from 2014 to 2023, alleged that the white paper was a jugglery of numbers and contained baseless allegations against the previous BRS government.

The BRS chose to make the presentation, named ‘Sweda Patram’ (document to show hard work), to expose the Congress government’s ”hollowness and political bankruptcy,” he said.

Telangana will have an outstanding debt of Rs 6,71,757 crore, including non-guaranteed loans of corporations or institutions, by the end of FY 24 against Rs 72,658 crore in 2014-15, the state government had said on December 20.

The state government said in its white paper that the debt within the limits of FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) was Rs 3,89,673 crore. However, Rs 72,658 crore out of the Rs 3,89,673 crore was old loan of the Congress government before BRS assumed power in 2014, Rao said.

”The Congress government says that we pushed the state into a debt which stands at Rs 6,71,157 crore according to its white paper. But our debts are just Rs 3,17,015 crore. The rest are loans raised for capital investments under self-hypothecation and by certain corporations which have a much bigger asset base and can clear the loans on their own,” he said.

Rao claimed that the BRS government in the last decade had ensured a ”value creation of more than Rs 50 lakh crore in Telangana.” ”There is an attempt to discredit the work of the previous BRS government. In the recent assembly session, we were not given a fair chance to represent our views when they (Congress government) presented a white paper,” he said.

Asserting that Telangana has witnessed great progress in the last 10 years, Rao said, ”The per capita income grew from Rs 1,12,162 in 2014 to Rs 3,17,115 in 2023. Similarly, GSDP grew from Rs 4.51 lakh crore to Rs 13.27 lakh crore in 2023. Poverty too was reduced from 21.92 per cent in 2014 to just 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal year.” He said the current Congress regime should concentrate on its responsibilities instead of defaming the previous government.

”Run your political campaigns against us. But don’t discredit the projects and create a wrong perception for investors. ”I want you all to check if there is any village in the Congress and the BJP-ruled states in the entire country that have drinking water connections to every household, nurseries, funeral places of different religions. These facilities are available only in Telangana,” he said.

Rao, who spoke about multiple sectors like finance, agriculture, irrigation, power, health, education, development of Hyderabad, IT and others, claimed that Telangana stands as a guiding light for the country.