AP should have powerhouses like Hyderabad, Chennai, says Jagan

Amaravati: “Andhra Pradesh should have economic powerhouses. Cities like Hyderabad and Chennai are absolutely essential for any state. The state was unjustly divided. Had the Union government given a written instead of an oral assurance on special category status in the Parliament, then we could have waged a legal battle,” said Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during Assembly sessions on Tuesday.

On the second day of the Assembly, Jagan spoke on the finances of the state. He said that the state suffered a revenue loss of around Rs 66,116 crores between 2019-2022 due to Covid-19.

“We came to power under extremely difficult circumstances. An unprecedented decline in revenue was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a dip in tax devolutions from the Central Government and fiscal deficit, we delivered great governance in the last five years,” said Jagan.

‘Reduction in tax devolutions from Centre’

He explained that the state’s compounded annual growth rate at 13.8 per cent should have generated a revenue of Rs 2.24 lakh crores, however, due to Covid, revenue of only Rs 1.15 lakh crores was generated leading to a reduction in tax devolutions from the Centre from 35 per cent to 31 per cent.

He said that the state is incurring a loss of Rs 13,000 crores every financial year due to the biased distribution of assets under the AP Reorganisation Act. He said that the only possibility for AP to get special category status is to have a favourable government that will rely on our support and fulfil our state’s demands.

Rs 2.55 lakh crores given to beneficiaries

The state government has deposited Rs 2.55 lakh crores into the bank accounts of poor beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) transparently without any graft.

Jagan questioned on what is the need for all opposition parties to unite and conspire against YSRCP if they think that the government did not fulfil its promises or did no good to the people.

“After all these years, there is not even a single scheme that comes to our mind when we think of TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu. He is only remembered for backstabbing people, and his name is synonymous with drought. Every household must remember this,” said Jagan.