BRS slams Sitharaman for remark on Telangana's debt burden Cong blames previous govt

Hyderabad, Feb 13 (PTI) The BRS on Thursday hit out at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her comments in Rajya Sabha that Telangana is debt-ridden now though it was revenue-surplus before bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
    The ruling Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said the Centre should help since the finance minister has "acknowledged" the state's difficult financial situation.
    Taking exception to Sitharaman's remarks, BRS spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said the outstanding internal and external debt and other liabilities of the Central government at the end of 2025-26 is estimated to be Rs 196,78,772.68 crore which is unprecedented.
    "The Government of India should first of all look at themselves in the mirror and then say why the Narendra Modi government took more than the debt taken by all the governments in the last 70 years put together. They have to clarify to the people of the country why so many lakhs of crores of debt was taken," he told PTI.
    Observing that the previous BRS government created assets such as irrigation projects and medical colleges, among others, he asked whether the Modi government brought such projects.
    Dasoju further said Telangana (Rs 3.56 lakh) fared better than larger states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in per capita income in FY 2023-24.
    The Congress MP Reddy alleged that Telangana fell into a debt trap due to the mismanagement of the BRS regime.
    "What she (Nirmala Sitharaman) said is known to everybody. KCR (former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao) had said he was investing in a new state. But, the investment did not have returns. That's the reason why we are struggling now to make repayments," he told PTI.
    Since the finance minister has acknowledged, she should find a way out to help the state rebound, he said.
    The state is ready to listen to the Centre and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is not arrogant like the previous CM (KCR), the MP said.
    The Centre should make a law that states should not have free hand to get the loans "left, right and centre". Former CM KCR secured loans even at 11-12 per cent interest, he said.
    There should be a monitoring system to control the financial institutions which are giving loans to a state, he said.
    The Congress government had said in December, 2023 that Telangana will have an outstanding debt of Rs 6,71,757 crore, including non-guaranteed loans of corporations or institutions by the end of FY 24 against Rs 72,658 crore in 2014-15.
    Telangana was revenue surplus before reorganisation of undivided Andhra Pradesh, but it is debt-ridden now, Sitharaman said in Rajya Sabha.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)