VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that the YSRC has been financially more disciplined than the previous TDP government, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday gave a point-to-point rebuttal to the allegations levelled by the Opposition on various issues.
At the same time he mocked the TDP for its unrealistic poll promises in the name of Super Six or Super Seven.
Speaking to mediapersons at the launch of the party’s election manifesto for the 2024 elections, the Chief Minister said TDP and its allies were more or less making the same promises that they made in the 2014 elections. The TDP’s manifesto is not visible anywhere not even in the dustbin into which it had been relegated, he quipped.
Describing the TDP chief as a ‘habitual offender’ who cheats people time and again with his unimplementable promises, the Chief Minister said that even in the face of revenue loss due to the pandemic for two years, his government had not compromised on the welfare and development programmes being implemented in the State.
He said: “TDP and its allies are coming out with their Super Six programmes, but they do not explain as to how they would support the expenditure to be incurred on them. The total amount needed for the implementation of these Super Six programmes comes to around Rs 1,21,618 crore per year. Further, there are programmes like total fee reimbursement, Vasati Deevena, Aarogyasri and Aarogya Aasra, Sampooran Poshna, free rice, and free power to farmers, which require Rs 29,100 crore per year. All in all, the requirement would be a whopping Rs 1,50,718 crore per year which is very difficult to raise,” he pointed out.
Mocking Naidu for his plans of creating wealth to support welfare schemes, Jagan said the TDP chief shamelessly boasts about creating wealth, though his track record as chief minister for 14 years says otherwise.
Highlighting the revenue deficit in the State from financial year 1994-95 to 2018-19, Jagan said it was clear that during the period when Naidu was the chief minister, the State faced a revenue deficit.
“During the period when he was not the chief minister, the State finances recovered,” he observed.
The YSRC chief said Naidu was never sincere in addressing people’s problems and his focus has always been on looting the State’s resources in any and every form.
On the allegations that the State was pushed into a debt trap during the YSRC government, Jagan said the CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of liabilities during 2014-19 was 21.87%, while it was 12.13% during 2019-24.
He added that under the TDP regime, the State’s share in GDP was 4.47%, while it was 4.83% now. Regarding the tax burden on people, he said during the TDP it was 6.5%, and only 6.35% during the YSRC regime. With regard to capital expenditure, the Chief Minister said during TDP it was Rs 76,138 crore for five years with an average of Rs 15,227.80 crore, while it was Rs 83,586.12 crore with an average of Rs 17,757.10 crore.
“It shows who has the financial discipline,” he said.
“We can’t compete with Naidu’s fraudulent promises, but we can show our commitment to the people. This government is different from the previous one – we don’t make empty promises. We deliver, and that’s our legacy,” he said.