Harish Rao attacks Congress govt over unrealistic budgets, inflated numbers

BRS leader T Harish Rao criticised the Congress government in the Telangana Assembly over inflated budget estimates, revenue shortfalls and rising debt. He alleged repeated cuts in welfare schemes and questioned projections on excise revenue and economic growth

Hyderabad: BRSLP deputy leader T Harish Rao tore into the ruling Congress for presenting unrealistic and bloated budgets for three consecutive years and later slashing allocations due to revenue shortfalls. He challenged the government’s repeated claim that its budgets were realistic, pointing to massive gaps between estimates, revised figures and actual spending.

Participating in the discussion on the State budget for 2026-27 in the Assembly here, Harish Rao said the past three budgets exposed the Congress formula for governance involving lavish promises in the manifesto, exaggerated figures in the budget and painful cuts in implementation. He said the first Congress budget for 2024-25 ended with a shortfall of nearly Rs 59,000 crore and the second with about Rs 55,000 crore in 2025-26.

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“The current 2026-27 budget is inflated by over Rs 54,000 crore beyond what the State could realistically spend. Which allocations would you slash this time to adjust the numbers?” he asked the treasury benches.

The BRSLP deputy leader argued that these repeated corrections forced the government to dilute or abandon several welfare schemes, slowing the State’s economic momentum. He said the per capita income growth rate, which stood at 14 per cent during the BRS regime, slipped to 10.6 per cent in 2024-25 and 10.2 per cent in 2025-26. The GSDP growth rate too fell from around 12 per cent to nearly 10 per cent.

Harish Rao cited fiscal deterioration, pointing to revenue receipts which fell from Rs 1.69 lakh crore to Rs 1.67 lakh crore within a year, apart from pushing the State from a revenue surplus into a deficit of more than Rs 9,000 crore. Citing the actual accounts, he stated that even the State Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) fell from Rs 1.11 lakh crore in 2023-24 under BRS rule to Rs 1.09 lakh crore in 2024-25 during the Congress regime.

“Yet, you call this Telangana Rising even when it is falling,” he said, taking a swipe at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy without naming him directly.

The sharpest exchange came over excise projections, with Harish Rao ridiculing the government’s estimate that excise revenue would jump by nearly Rs 12,000 crore during the next fiscal. He sought to know whether the government intended to open a belt shop in every lane to achieve this target, triggering protests from Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who countered that excise collections had risen even faster during the BRS years.

The BRSLP deputy leader said that excise revenue increased from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 36,000 crore during the BRS regime, which is around Rs 2,500 crore per annum. “But under Congress rule, it has been projected to rise by Rs 12,000 crore in a single year. Is this how the Congress wants to run the State?” he asked.

On borrowings, Harish Rao accused the Congress of running a high-debt government while blaming its predecessor. He said the BRS had raised about Rs 4.17 lakh crore over ten years for irrigation, infrastructure and other purposes, whereas the Congress piled up nearly Rs 3.7 lakh crore in just two years, including Rs 1.77 lakh crore in the current fiscal alone.

“Stop misleading the House on debt. I am ready for a debate anywhere, anytime,” he challenged the Congress government to an open debate on the State finances.

The BRS member also tore into the government over failed promises, from farm loan waiver and Rythu Bharosa to job calendar announcements and financial aid to women. He pointed out that allocations announced with fanfare over the last two years were later trimmed or never released.

Calling the budget a speech full of numbers but empty of credibility, Harish Rao demanded that the government give statutory backing to the Six Guarantees and spell out a timeline for implementing promises made to farmers, women and unemployed youth. “If you keep inflating budgets and shrinking delivery, the damage will not stop with the State but will come back to bury the Congress itself,” he warned.