Former Finance Minister Harish Rao Called Telangana Budget an Illusion of Lies and Manipulated Figures
Hyderabad: Former finance minister and senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao alleged that the Budget presented by the Congress government was “full of lies, deceit and unrealistic claims”. He claimed the Budget speech by finance minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was a “cut and paste” affair with paragraphs repeated from last year’s speech.
“Bhatti Budget is a bada jhoot Budget,” Harish Rao said, adding that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s government had yet again misled the people. Harish Rao was speaking with reporters after Bhatti presented the Budget in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Harish Rao questioned the Budget showing a surplus. “Last year, the Budget showed a revenue surplus of Rs 5,888 crore and this year, the projected surplus is Rs 2,738 crore. If the state is debt-ridden as claimed by Revanth Reddy, how is any revenue surplus possible,” he asked.
Harish Rao asked if the government wanted every man, woman, and child to get addicted to liquor with its projected Rs 50,000 crore excise revenue. The target was nearly Rs 13,000 crore more than that of the BRS government, he said.
Questioning other projections, Harish Rao pointed out that Telangana was shown to receive Rs 15,729 crore under Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS), against Rs 5,966 crore last year. A Rs 3,000 crore claim was made for MGNREGA, despite last year’s actual allocation being just Rs 2,600 crore. “How can this be possible,” he asked. “The Centre’s outlay for MGNREGA this year is the same Rs 86,000 crore as last year. The outlay for CSS for the entire country is Rs 26,000 crore. If Bhatti’s claims are not blatant lies, then what are they?”
Harish Rao said the government had limited interest-free loans to women self-help groups to Rs 5 lakh, which means that borrowing more would attract a 12.5 per cent interest rate. “The government initially promised Rs 1 lakh crore in interest-free loans but reduced it Rs 20,000 crore. If the government is truly committed to interest-free loans, the entire loan amount should be interest free,” he said.
Harish Rao said Bhatti had claimed that the previous BRS government had not issued new ration cards but the fact was that 6.47 lakh new ration cards were issued. “Today’s Budget speech is a masterpiece of lies and deception. This budget is nothing more than a financial illusion filled with manipulated figures and false promises,” Harish Rao said.
