K T Rama Rao.
Credit: Facebook/@KTRTRS
Hyderabad: After the Congress government released a white paper on state finances, describing that the previous government had pushed Telangana into a debt crisis, the opposition BRS came out with a strong counter.
BRS working president, KT Rama Rao, released 'Swedha Pathram' on Sunday in response to the government's white paper. He claimed that the BRS government, in the last decade, has ensured a value creation of more than Rs 50 lakh crore in Telangana.
The Congress government, in the white paper released on Dec 20 in the state assembly, stated that in the last 10 years, the total debt of Telangana and the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) created by the government has increased to Rs 6,71,757 crore from Rs 72,658 crore in 2014-15.
The white paper also stated that Telangana, which was revenue surplus in 2014 and has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, is now facing a debt crisis.
“This government seems to be hell-bent on destroying the image of the newly formed state of Telangana, which is the most successful state in the entire country in terms of GSDP growth, per capita, employment creation, wealth creation,” said KTR while explaining a PowerPoint presentation at BRS headquarters Telangana Bhavan.
He further said, "There is an attempt to discredit the work of the 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. There is a responsibility upon us to explain to the people of our tireless work in the state.”
He also said that "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 because 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".
The former IT minister said that "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 reduced from 21.92 per cent in 2014 to just 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal year."
KTR suggested to the current Congress regime to concentrate on its responsibilities instead of defaming the previous Government.
“In the white paper by the Congress, the party said that the expenditure incurred by the KCR Government in the last 10 years was Rs 13,72,930 crore. If true, then the BRS government spent in just 10 years of its rule almost three times of what the previous governments in the last 65 years. However, they say that the BRS Government did not work properly. Isn't this proof that the Congress government has given false calculations in its white paper? Don't you understand that their aim is to throw mud at BRS?" KTR asked.