BJP’s ‘misinformation’ campaign begins in Telangana

Union Minister G Kishan Reddy tried to inflate loans distributed in Telangana and took credit for loans provided to individuals, public sector undertakings and even the State government, undermining the role of the financial institutions

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda ahead of the Assembly elections in the State is clear – mislead the public with false misinformation. Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy revealed just that on Saturday with his claims over the Centre’s allocation of funds to Telangana.

Interestingly, the Union Minister even tried to inflate loans distributed in the State and took credit for loans provided to individuals, public sector undertakings and even the State government, undermining the role of the financial institutions.

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Contrary to the Minister’s claims of over Rs 4.77 lakh crore being allocated between 2014-15 and 2022-23, official statistics released by the State government during the Assembly budget session and verified replies from Union Ministers in Parliament reveal a significantly lower figure of around Rs 2.28 lakh crore.

The Centre released Rs 52,148 crore to Telangana under Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) over the last nine years. The Grants-in-Aid from the Union government to Telangana amounted to Rs 91,277 crore. However, the Union Minister claimed that Rs 4.99 lakh crore was given towards the Centre’s share in Central schemes and other development expenditure. Telangana had received around Rs 1,37,465 crore from the Central taxes including GST, but Kishan Reddy pegged the number at Rs 1.78 lakh crore.

While Kishan Reddy claimed that Rs 19,812.5 crore were sanctioned to Telangana towards the Finance Commission funds, the State received Rs 19,364 crore. Despite Telangana facing heavy rains and severe floods over the last nine years, the Centre released a meagre Rs 800 crore in two installments and rejected requests from the State government for financial assistance.

Surprisingly, the inflated figures touted by the BJP leader include personal loans, loans provided to public sector undertakings, corporations and the State government, conveniently overlooking the fact that banks extend loans based on established rules and regulations. Kishan Reddy, in his presentation, stated that loans obtained by the Telangana government along with the State-owned public sector undertakings were around Rs 7.5 lakh crore.

“The total borrowings obtained by the State government including market loans along with loans provided by NABARD, public sector banks and other financial institutions are Rs 3.12 lakh crore by the Centre’s own admission in the Parliament. The BJP is not only shamelessly seeking credit for loans disbursed by banks, but inflating the numbers staggeringly,” Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation chairman Manne Krishank said.

Kishan Reddy also claimed credit for providing loans to individuals towards home loans and business loans amounting to Rs.9.26 lakh crore. “Have you ever seen any Union government counting loans given to individuals as funds given to a State government? This explains that BJP has actually nothing to show what it has done to Telangana. Hilarious!” tweeted TSREDCO chairman Y Sathish Reddy.

Citing the presentation, BJP senior leader Amit Malaviya further inflated the numbers to claim that ‘the Modi government allocated Rs 27.42 lakh crore to Telangana in the last nine years’, which implies that the Centre is providing nearly Rs 3 lakh crore per year. Incidentally, the State budget did not even reach this number as the outlay was pegged at Rs 2.9 lakh crore only this financial year.

BRS leader Nayini Anurag Reddy pointed out that for every rupee that Telangana contributes to the nation, the State receives only 45 paisa in return. “We take pride in our contribution to the nation. We are not mere beneficiaries, but rather contributors,” he said, citing a Central government document which declared that while taxes collected by the Centre from Telangana were Rs 3.65 lakh crore during 2014-21, the latter received only Rs 1.68 lakh crore in return.