BRS releases white paper countering State govt’s claims

Making a presentation titled 'Sweda Patram' at the BRS State headquarters in Telangana Bhavan here on Sunday, Rama Rao highlighted the disparity between the Congress's figures and the actual numbers.

Hyderabad: In a strong counter to the Congress government’s white paper on Telangana’s finances, BRS working president KT Rama Rao challenged the statistics presented by the former in the Assembly. He asserted that the actual loans acquired by Telangana during the previous BRS government’s tenure amounted to Rs 3,17,015 crore, contradicting the Congress government‘s claim of Rs 6,71,757 crore. He accused the Congress of attempting to tarnish Telangana’s image by portraying it as a failed State and labeling its government as an unsuccessful experiment.

Making a presentation titled ‘Sweda Patram’ at the BRS State headquarters in Telangana Bhavan here on Sunday, Rama Rao highlighted the disparity between the Congress’s figures and the actual numbers. As per the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgement Management (FRBM) Act norms, he said Telangana’s total debt is Rs 3,89,673 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 72,658 crore was inherited from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in population ratio. Therefore, the actual loans obtained during the BRS tenure stand at Rs 3,17,015 crore.

---

The BRS working president also criticised the State government clubbing both government-guaranteed and non-guaranteed loans together, to exaggerate their claims. He specified that government-guaranteed loans raised by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) but serviced by the government are Rs 1,27,208 crore. Additionally, government-guaranteed loans raised and serviced by SPVs amount to Rs 95,462 crore, while non-guaranteed loans raised and serviced by SPVs/corporations/institutions are Rs 59,414 crore. “Only loans obtained under FRBM Act are considered as government debts across the country,” he said.

The former Minister accused the Congress of misrepresentation of facts with regard to loans availed by SPVs/corporations/institutions. He said the Civil Supplies Corporation obtained a Rs 56,000 crore loan for paddy purchase payments to farmers, as a temporary arrangement. However, there was no mention of pending amounts from the Centre and paddy stocks in the godowns valued at around Rs 30,000 crore.

Rama Rao dismissed the Congress‘s argument that Rs 4.98 lakh crore were spent by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government in Telangana over 60 years, dubbing it as false. He reminded that if the amount was rightfully spent in Telangana, there would not have been a separate statehood movement. He emphasised that the previous governments, as per the white paper itself, spent Rs 4.98 lakh crore in 60 years, contrasting it with Rs 13.72 lakh crore spent in less than 10 years under the BRS regime.