HYDERABAD: Excise and Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Friday accused the BRS leaders, including former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, former ministers KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao, of misleading the people of Telangana on the state’s debts and financial mismanagement during their 10-year rule.
Addressing the media at the CLP office here, the minister reiterated that he stands by every statement he made on Telangana’s finances. He also declared that he is ready to resign as an MLA and as a minister if his claims are proved wrong.
Referring to the BRS leadership’s response to his allegations, Jupally remarked that their approach was like “operation successful but patient dead.”
Pointing out inconsistencies in the debt figures cited by senior BRS leaders, he said that Rama Rao had at different times claimed that the total debt incurred by the BRS government was Rs 3,17,015 crore and Rs 3,85,340 crore, while Harish Rao cited figures of Rs 4,26,099 crore and Rs 4,17,496 crore on different occasions.
Stating that he would send sealed letters to KCR, KTR and Harish Rao through WhatsApp, email and speed post, seeking written clarification on the debt figures, Krishna Rao asserted that if his claims were found to be incorrect, he would immediately resign. He also demanded that BRS leaders specify in writing what action they would take if their statements were proved to be wrong.
The minister accused the BRS leaders of diverting attention instead of addressing the core issue of Telangana’s debt burden. He argued that state liabilities comprise multiple categories and alleged that the previous government had accumulated debts and liabilities amounting to `8.21 lakh crore.
He rejected the BRS argument that loans raised by state corporations were not government liabilities, asking why repayments were made from the state treasury if those borrowings were unrelated to the government.
Slamming the BRS chief for not attending the Assembly, he challenged the former chief minister to at least address the media on the issue.
He also challenged BRS leaders to clarify if they would resign as MLAs if they fail to to substantiate their claims.
Krishna Rao, along with minister Ponnam Prabhakar and Shadnagar MLA Shankaraiah, reached Somajiguda Press Club at 5 pm and arranged three chairs for KCR, Rama Rao and Harish Rao. But none of them turned up to participate in the open debate.
