HYDERABAD: In a strong rebuttal to allegations levelled by BRS MLA KT Rama Rao in the Assembly, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday explained the state’s financial and debt situation, while comparing the welfare schemes implemented by the previous regime and the present Congress dispensation.
Responding to the claims of BRS on crop loan waiver, Revanth said that the previous regime initially waived Rs 16,143 crore, but if one deducts the interest, it only waived Rs 13,514 crore in its first term.
He added that the BRS government did not spend a single rupee on crop loan waiver in the first four years of its second term, and released Rs 11,909 crore to 21,35,557 farmers in the fifth year. “The Opposition claims that the Congress government did not waive loans. But my government waived Rs 20,616.89 crore, providing relief to 25,35,964 farmers from debt burden in the first 10 months,” the CM said while attempting to show the disparity between 10 years of BRS rule and 10 months of Congress rule.
Free power a Congress patent
Referring to the initiatives of his government in the agriculture sector, he said that free power supply is a Congress patent.
Criticising the policies of the previous BRS government, he said that the total debt incurred by the undivided state under 16 chief ministers as of 2014 was Rs 90,160 crore and the debt incurred by the BRS government in 10 years was Rs 6,69,257 crore as of December 1, 2023.
An additional amount of Rs 40,154 crore, to be paid for completed contractual works, has been kept pending. If these figures are added, the total debt incurred by the BRS in 10 years is Rs 8,19,151 crore, he added.
“The Opposition should speak about what they have achieved. The debt incurred by a party and a family in 10 years is Rs 7.50 lakh crore,” he said.
He said that his government incurred Rs 1,58,041 crore in 15 months, of which the principal amount paid from December 2023 to 28 February 2025 was Rs 88,591 crore and interest paid from December 2023 to February 28, 2025 was Rs 64,768 crore.
“The total amount we have repaid, including principal and interest, on the debts incurred by them in 10 years is Rs 1,53,359 crore. Now, the net debt incurred by our government in 15 months is only Rs 4,682 crore,” he said.