KTR counters Congress White Paper on Telangana finances, says bid to discredit KCR 10 year’s rule

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao has claimed that the BRS government in the last decade has ensured a value creation of more than Rs 50 lakh crore in Telangana.

The party has put out a strong counter to the Congress government’s narrative that K Chandrashekar Rao’s regime has turned Telangana into a debt-ridden state in the last 10 years.

Releasing the ‘Telangana Swedha Patram’, the party’s white paper on the status of finances in Telangana, at the Telangana Bhavan on Sunday, KTR 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 (the Congress Government) presented a white paper. There is a responsibility upon us to explain to the people our tireless work in the state.

Earlier, the Congress government had released a white paper on Telangana’s ‘alarming’ financial status in the State Assembly. The white paper projected Rs 6,71,757 crore debt on the state, an increase from Rs 72,658 crores in 2014-15. Another white paper by the Congress government on the power sector showed that Telangana Discoms have incurred losses up to Rs 62,461 crores, an increase from Rs 12,186 crores in 2014. The white papers have been prepared by the state’s bureaucrats concerned.

“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 much bigger asset base and can clear the loans on their own,” said KTR.

“The Congress Government’s claim in its white paper that its government had spent Rs 4.98 lakh crore for Telangana during its 60-year rule is also false. Contrary to the 1956 ‘Gentleman Agreement’, the Congress party spent the revenue generated in Telangana elsewhere despite suggestions by several committees that Telangana deserves its rightful share,” he added.

‘Inherited chaos’

Explaining the financial situation of the state when Telangana was born, KTR said, “When KCR took over as the chief minister, the finances were in doldrums. Political conspiracies aside, we were tasked with the distribution of employees and assets post-bifurcation. There was a 2,700-megawatt power deficit.”

“We have inherited issues like fluorosis due to lack of clean drinking water, water scarcity, lack of medical facilities, etc. We have tasked ourselves to work on improving the livelihood of farmers, boosting law and order and irrigation challenges,” he said.

Stating that Telangana progressed in the last 10 years, KTR 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 reduced from 21.92 per cent in 2014 to just 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal year.”

‘False accusations’

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 they aim to throw mud at BRS?” KTR asked.

“Politically run your 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 has drinking water connections to every household, nurseries, funeral places of different religions? These facilities are available only in Telangana,” he said.

KTR touched up on multiple sectors like finance, agriculture, irrigation, power, health, education, development of Hyderabad, roads and buildings, IT and others in detail. He concluded saying: “Telangana stands as a guiding light for the nation. We will not let the hope of the people die. We are committed to standing by the people.”