With the six destructive economic policies – bad debt, high inflation, high unemployment, high deficits, system collapse – Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, has completely ruined the State, observed former Finance minister and leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Council, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, on Friday.
Ramakrishnudu said that Jagan has looted the natural resources in the State as part of his policy to ransack Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Minister has robbed a whopping Rs 6 lakh cr in the past five years, he said and expressed concern that the inflation rate which should not exceed two to three per cent has now touched an alarming 8.5 per cent while the unemployment rate is 24 per cent.
The budgetary deficit which was Rs 35,467 cr in 20018-19 has reached Rs 52,508 cr by 2022-23 while the revenue deficit which was Rs 13,899 cr in 2018-19 has gone up to Rs 43,487 cr by 2022-23, Ramakrishnudu said. The YSRCP Government is not revealing the facts on the actual financial position of the State but is trying to mislead the people by making false statements on the floor of the Assembly, the former Finance minister felt.
The budgetary estimates which generally get the nod of the Legislature do not have any value in the Jagan Reddy rule, he felt. Minister for Finance, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, has kept as secret even on the loans raised during the 2022-23 fiscal, the TDP politburo member stated. Pointing out that at least Rs one lakh cr has been raised as non-budgetary loans in this year alone, he said that in the past five years a whopping Rs 5 lakh cr has been borrowed under this category.
The whole financial year of 2022-23 was run completely on debts raised from the RBI, Ramakrishnudu said over draft has been raised for 152 days in this fiscal. Ramakrishnudu demanded an explanation from the State Government on what happened to the Rs 1,18,039 cr raised as loan from the RBI in the 2022-23 fiscal. Corporation loans are now Rs 5 lakh cr, he said and stated that the details on how this money is spent are not provided even to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Observing that both the RBI and the Centre have already cautioned the State Government on going for such huge loans, Ramakrishnudu said that the RBI has even told the nationalised banks to be cautious while granting loans to the State Government. Despite having raised such a huge amount of loans there is no development in the State, the leader of the Opposition in the Upper House said.
The State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) was Rs 11,22,837 cr and this Government has given false information that the SGST has gone up to 13,17,728 cr in the 2022-23 fiscal, he said. When the funds allocated as per the budgetary estimates are not spent how the SGST will grow and how the average revenue will increase, Ramakriushnudu asked.
In the budget speech it is wrongly projected that the poverty has gone down, Ramakrishnudu said and pointed out that in the Human Development Index the State stood at 20th position. “The other Southern States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala are far ahead of us in poverty eradication and even the neighbouring Telangana State which has less resources than us is ahead of us,” Ramakrishnu maintained.
Even for Aarogyasri, dues amounting to Rs 1200 cr are pending clearance, the former Finance minister said and asked is this the poverty eradication which Jagan has been claiming.
