An error that turned into terror: Harish Rao describes Revanth Reddy in power

This was not because of an economic slowdown, but because of the Congress government's failure, Harish Rao said, adding that the people of Telangana had made one error, that of electing Revanth Reddy, and that error was turning out to be a terror for them

Hyderabad: Exposing the hollowness of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s claims of an economic slowdown in the country affecting Telangana’s growth, former Finance Minister T Harish Rao pointed out that Telangana was registering negative growth rate in different sectors while neighbouring States were witnessing a positive growth.

This was not because of an economic slowdown, but because of the Congress government’s failure, he said, adding that the people of Telangana had made one error, that of electing Revanth Reddy, and that error was turning out to be a terror for them.

---

Speaking during a general discussion on the budget in the Assembly on Friday, he pointed out that as per the CAG report, Telangana recorded only a 5.5 percent growth rate in GST collections in the last 11 months. This was against the State government’s expectations of 20 per cent growth rate, he said pointing out that at the same time, Karnataka had registered a 10.72 per cent growth rate and Maharashtra 12 per cent while the national average was about 10 per cent. During the BRS tenure, the GST growth rate in Telangana was never below the national average, he said.

Similarly, the Stamps and Registration revenue had also declined drastically during the Congress rule. In the last budget, Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had expected the stamps and registration revenue to be Rs 18,244 crore, but in the last 11 months, only Rs 12,867 crore was generated, the former Minister said.

Interestingly, the neighbouring Tamil Nadu registered 90 per cent of the expected revenue, Karnataka 85 per cent and Maharashtra 93 per cent. Telangana had registered only 77 per cent and the Congress government needs to self-introspect in this regard, he said.

Regarding automobile sales, while Andhra Pradesh witnessed a 12 per cent increase, Tamil Nadu recorded a 32 per cent rise and Karnataka of eight per cent, while Telangana recorded a negative growth rate of 0.08 per cent, he pointed out.

“Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy came up with the Telangana Rising slogan. In which sectors is Telangana Rising?” Harish Rao asked. Listing out the reasons for Telangana’s sluggish growth, the former Minister pointed out that soon after coming to power, the Chief Minister had declared that the State had gone bankrupt.

The Pharma City project was put on the backburner, plans for connecting the Hyderabad Metro to the international airport were canceled and demolition of houses on River Musi banks was taken up while the imposition of the ‘RR’ tax laid the path for negative growth, he said.

“To cover up their failures, the Congress government is citing ‘ardhika mandyam’ (economic slowdown) but it is ‘buddhi mandyam’ (lack of intellect) that is leading to Telangana’s negative growth,” Harish Rao said, triggering opposition from Speaker G Prasad Kumar, who wanted the senior BRS MLA to refrain from using such language. Bhatti Vikramarka also found fault with the former Minister for his language in criticising the Treasury benches.

In reply, Harish Rao pointed out that when the Chief Minister threatened in the same Assembly that people would be stripped and paraded naked on roads for anti-CM posts on social media, no objection was raised over his language.

Harish Rao also said people from different sections were vexed with the Congress government. “The one error they committed in electing Revanth Reddy has turned out to be a terror for them,” he added.