Hyderabad: Congress trying to discredit BRS achievements, says Harish Rao

Harish Rao said the way the budget speech was delivered was clear that the government had nothing to offer to the people and that the main intention of the entire exercise was to discredit the achievements of the BRS government.

Hyderabad: Terming the budget presented by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in the State assembly full of lies and unrealistic, senior BRS MLA T Harish Rao said the entire exercise of the budget was to discredit the achievements of the previous BRS government in the last 10 years and that there was nothing to offer to the people of Telangana.

Initiating the general discussion on the budget in the State assembly on Saturday, Harish Rao said the way the budget speech was delivered was clear that the government had nothing to offer to the people and that the main intention of the entire exercise was to discredit the achievements of the BRS government.

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At the time of formation of the State, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was just Rs.4.5 lakh and due to the efforts of the BRS government it was increased to Rs.14 lakh, he said, adding that instead of acknowledging the achievements of the BRS government, the Congress in order to hide its inefficiency was trying to blame the previous government.

There was shortage of power in the State when the BRS came to power. It overcame it within six months and within a year, started providing 24X7 power to all the sectors, he reminded, adding that due to the efforts of then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the State progressed in all the sectors.

“The Congress is trying to erase all the achievements of the BRS government from government websites. But it is forgetting that the development achieved by the BRS government cannot be erased from the memory of the people of the State,” he said.

Stating that the figures mentioned in the budget speech were not matching with the revenue estimate, the former Finance Minister said it was shown in the budget that Rs.35,000 crore would come in the form of non-tax revenue, however, the government failed to explain how it was going to generate the huge amount.

“Bhatti criticised the BRS government for auctioning government lands and now the Congress government has proposed to raise Rs.10,000 crore through auction of government lands. This is nothing but purely double standards,” he pointed out.

Coming down heavily on the government, he said the government allocated Rs.31,000 crore for the crop loan waiver and other farmer related schemes, but when it was cross checked it came to only Rs.26,000 crore through various allocations, including the SC/ST Sub Plan. Similarly, the government had proposed to collect Rs.42,000 crore through excise, whereas last year the State received Rs.35,000 crore through excise, he said.

“Government should tell the people of the State how it was going to get additional income of over Rs.7,000 crore. Is the government going to increase the prices of liquor?” he asked.

Criticising the State government on the issue of State debts, he said though during the BRS government tenure, the total debts incurred were Rs.4,26,499 crore, the Congress misled the people by stating that the State had a debt of Rs.7 lakh crore.

“We took loans for asset creation. Due to our asset creation, Telangana became the number one State in the country. In 2014, Telangana was in the 11 position in GSDP and today it is number one. We created wealth and opportunities. The Congress is trying to destroy it,” he said.