HYDERABAD: The second day of the Budget session of the Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a war of words between BRS and Congress members immediately after the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address began.
The treasury benches and the Opposition BRS locked horns over the claims of the state government in the Governor’s address after Congress MLA Balu Naik moved the motion and initiated the debate.
BRS member KT Rama Rao spoke at length. He faced repeated interruptions from treasury benches, including ministers. As Rama Rao lambasted the government, several Congress MLAs and ministers countered him and heated exchanges ensued.
At one point, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the government had provided Rs 57,000 crore in interest-free loans to self-help groups (SHGs). Rama Rao challenged the claim and said that he would resign as MLA if the government proves it. He asked the government to place all records in the House. He added that if the claim was false, the deputy CM should resign.
Bhatti: KTR hurting women’s sentiments with his remarks
Hitting back at Rama Rao, Vikramarka on Tuesday said that the former lacks respect towards women and is hence hurting their sentiments with his remarks.
He said that the Congress government was implementing its six guarantees as promised during the 2023 Assembly elections.
Stating that the people of Telangana are well aware of the lack of respect the BRS leaders show towards women, he said: “KTR repeatedly makes remarks that hurt women’s sentiments. He seems to be speaking without proper understanding. If they (BRS) truly care about women’s development, they would have provided adequate representation to women in the state Cabinet during their tenure.”
“The Congress government has been depositing over `20,000 crore per year into the accounts of women under the interest-free loan scheme through self-help groups. So far, `57,000 crore has been credited into the accounts of these beneficiaries,” he said, adding that “when women prosper, families as well as the state progress”.
The deputy chief minister affirmed that the current government continues to provide interest-free loans to women and aims to create one crore women millionaires.
“Our ‘people’s government’ treats women with dignity. It has introduced free bus travel scheme for women. This scheme was launched within an hour of Congress forming the government in the state. The government is also regularly reimbursing the amount for ‘zero cost tickets’ issued by the RTC under this scheme,” he added.
Heated exchanges over $3 tn economy goal
In another instance, Rama Rao questioned the government’s target of making Telangana a $3 trillion economy by 2047. He said the promise of making one crore women “crorepatis” would translate into a $100 trillion economy. He asked why the target was only $3 trillion. Congress MLAs interrupted him, alleging that Rama Rao and BRS were anti-women.
Rama Rao also flagged discrepancies in official figures. He pointed out differences between the Governor’s address and IT Minister Sridhar Babu’s earlier statement on IT exports and jobs.
He said the Governor’s address mentioned IT exports of `3.13 lakh crore and 9.39 lakh jobs. However, the IT minister had recently said exports were about `3.5 lakh crore with 9.46 lakh employees. He demanded an answer as to whether 7,000 jobs were lost.
Responding to this, the IT minister said that his statement was based on the information available to him. He added that the Governor’s address used official figures provided by the finance department.
Seethakka presents stats, asks KTR to resign
Hyderabad: Following a heated exchange in the state Assembly over the disbursal of interest-free loans to women members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Minister Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka on Tuesday released official statistics, asserting that the Congress government has so far extended loans to the tune of Rs 57,000 crore. The minister also asked BRS working president
KT Rama Rao to resign as an MLA since his “claims have been proven wrong”. According to data placed in the public domain, a total of 1,10,585 SHGs were covered during 2023-24 (from December 2023 to March 2024), with Rs 7,932.58 crore disbursed. In 2024-25, the coverage expanded significantly to 2,50,336 SHGs, with loan assistance amounting to Rs 27,557.99 crore.
During the current financial year (up to March 13), the government supported 2,21,974 SHGs by disbursing loans worth Rs 22,446.64 crore. Citing these figures, Seethakka maintained that the government had fulfilled its commitment, and demanded that Rama Rao abide by his earlier statement to resign as an MLA.