Former Finance Minister criticizes Congress government for economic failures and lack of accountability in Assembly discussion.
Hyderabad: Former finance minister T. Harish Rao on Friday said the 2025-26 Budget was a litany of broken promises laced with lies. Initiating the general discussion on the Budget in the Assembly, Harish Rao said Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in his Budget speech had rolled out excuses to cover up the Congress government’s incompetence in handling the state’s finances.
“Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said a country-wide economic slowdown is also hurting Telangana. The fact is the state is recording negative growth in many sectors and this has nothing to do with the state of the Indian economy,” he said. This situation is a result of Telangana voters making one error, that of electing Revanth Reddy, which in turn has turned into a “terror for the state,” he said.
Harish Rao also took to task the government over its failure to mention what it planned to do with the Congress’ Six Guarantees, which, he said, have been ignored in the Budget. “First they promised reforms, then they reformed the promises,” Harish Rao quipped, adding that this statement summed up the Congress government’s performance so far, and Bhatti’s budget speech.
Harish Rao said the state witnessed 5.5 per cent GST growth rate against the projected 20 per cent in the current year, while the national average was 10 per cent, and Maharashtra and Karnataka recording 12 and 10.72 per cent growth respectively. Another indicator of how state’s economy was failing is the unmet revenue from the stamps and registration department, which against the projected `18,244 crore earned only `12,867 crore till February. A third example was the falling sales of vehicles, which registered a negative growth of .08 per cent, while AP saw 12 per cent growth, Tamil Nadu 32 and Karnataka eight per cent.
“There is growth everywhere except in Telangana which proves that the ardhika mandyam (slowdown of economy) that the Chief Minister talks about is because of buddhi mandyam (absence of intellect) in the Congress government. Ever since coming to power, Revanth Reddy has been claiming that state is bankrupt. He claims Telangana is rising but facts show it is otherwise,” Harish Rao said.
