The ruling Congress party’s blatant attempt to depict the Telangana economy in a poor light has fallen flat. Today, in the legislative assembly, the Congress party released a white paper on the state’s finances. However, the report conveniently ignored many positives of the state’s growing economy and selectively presented half-baked information to cast aspersions on the previous government.
The Telangana economy is one of the most robust and fiscally prudent economies in the country with a growth rate higher than the national average over the last 10 years. Telangana’s per capita income is the highest among big states in the country, and the state’s debt-to-GSDP ratio is well within prescribed limits, standing at the 24th position in the debt-to-GSDP ratio among other Indian states. However, the ruling party engaged in a smear campaign solely to portray the state in a poor light.
One glaring aspect of the submitted report is that it assumed Telangana received its due share of the 42% budget in united AP. The report claimed that around Rs. 5 lakh crores were spent in Telangana from 1956 to 2014. Unequal and unfair distribution of revenues was one of the main reasons for the Telangana movement, but astonishingly, this report highlighted that united AP rulers treated Telangana fairly. The white paper is full of such concocted lies, brazen contradictions, and half-truths.
Former Minister and senior BRS MLA Harish Rao flayed the ruling Congress and alleged that the report is a cooked-up story. Harish Rao pointed out that the white paper deliberately ignored the fact that Telangana’s State Own Tax Revenue is the second-highest in the country, and the state had spent around Rs. 3.37 lakh crores on capital expenditure.
The senior legislator exposed the fallacies in the report with facts and figures and explained how the debts raised were optimally utilized to create assets in the state over the last 10 years. Harish Rao alleged that the Congress government has hidden certain bright spots in the state’s finances to mislead the people of Telangana.
Nonetheless, many believe that Congress is using this report to hide its inefficiency and to inordinately delay the implementation of the six guarantees and other promises. As a counter to Congress’s claims, the BRS Party has released a detailed document showing the assets created by the KCR-led government in Telangana.