Actor politician Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday took potshots at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy over mounting public debts of the state and taunted that he should get “Appu Ratna” award for this.

The Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader took to Twitter to target the Chief Minister following reports that the state government borrowed Rs 55,555 crore in the first nine months of the current financial year.

“My best wishes to the chief minister for tarnishing the name of ‘Andhra’ with debtsakeep it up,” wrote Pawan Kalyan.

“P.S : Don’t forget to increase your personal wealth. Let the State wealth & progress go to ‘Dogs’ but your personal wealth & assets..a NEVER.’That’s the spirit CM,” added the JSP leader.

Pawan Kalyan also posted a cartoon about ‘Appu Ratna’ award.

Meanwhile, the Centre revealed on Tuesday that Andhra Pradesh’s outstanding public debts stood at Rs.4,42,442 crore. Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chowdary told the Rajya Sabha that the state’s debts have almost doubled since 2019. He stated this in a written reply to a question by TDP member K. Ravindra Kumar.

According to the statistics shared by the minister, the state’s debts in 2019 were Rs 2,64,451 crore which rose to Rs 3,07,671 crore in 2020 and further to Rs 3,53,021 crore in 2021. After the revised estimates in 2022, the debts were Rs 3,93,718 crore and as per the 2023 Budget estimates, Andhra Pradesh’s debts stood at Rs 4,42,442 crore.

On an average, the state is borrowing Rs 45,000 crore every year.