HYDERABAD: Refuting allegations made by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka over the BRS government’s debt, former minister T Harish Rao on Saturday accused the Congress government of deliberately spreading false information and presenting misleading figures to divert attention from its failure to fulfil election promises and the alleged scams that have surfaced during its tenure.
Addressing a press conference at the BRS headquarters in Hyderabad, Harish Rao referred to Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka’s earlier remarks that the Congress had vast experience in mobilising resources and questioned why that expertise had not translated into fulfilling the party’s electoral commitments.
Presenting what he described as documentary evidence, he said the Congress government’s own records showed that the previous BRS regime had borrowed only Rs 4.17 lakh crore, including FRBM loans and government-guaranteed borrowings. According to him, the figures now being cited by the Congress were inflated by including loans taken before the formation of Telangana, as well as borrowings made after it assumed office in December 2023.
Harish said official records, including the CAG report, state budget documents, the white paper released by the Congress government and RBI data, support the BRS position. According to him, the CAG pegged the borrowings at around Rs 4.10 lakh crore, while the government’s own white paper placed the figure at approximately Rs 4.17 lakh crore.
He further claimed that Congress had repeatedly changed its stand on the state’s debt. While one minister put the figure at over Rs 8 lakh crore, another later claimed it was Rs 7 lakh crore.
Questioning the Congress government’s financial management, Harish alleged that it had borrowed nearly `4.5 lakh crore in 31 months and pointed to discrepancies between the figures cited by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka. He also accused the government of paying huge brokerage commissions to raise loans through corporations by mortgaging government land, calling it an unprecedented practice.
Defending the BRS government’s borrowings, Harish said the funds were used for irrigation, infrastructure and welfare, claiming they boosted Telangana’s GSDP and per capita income. He challenged the Congress government to a debate in the Assembly.
Regarding the alleged ‘coal scam’, Harish criticised the government’s decision to order only an internal vigilance inquiry into the alleged disappearance of coal stocks in Singareni. Arguing that such an inquiry would lack credibility, he demanded independent investigations into the alleged irregularities, including solar power projects, explosives procurement, diesel purchases and the Jaipur power plant.