Yanamala slams 'fiscal indiscipline' of Jagan govt

Vijayawada: Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Monday accused the YSRCP government of not forming the 'fiscal council' so as to continue its financial irregularities, budget violations and fiscal indiscipline.

He said that if the fiscal council was formed, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government would not be able to take massive loans by violating the FRBM norms any longer. Moreover, there would be constant scrutiny over implementation of the budget manual.

In a statement here, the TDP former minister pointed out that the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) would only do a post mortem job on expenditure but not check violations in advance. The role of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was also very limited. Only the fiscal council would have full powers to keep a constant tab on public expenditure on a regular basis.

The TDP leader objected to finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy's statement that there was no need for the fiscal council. The FM's statement was tantamount to the government saying that it would not follow fiscal consolidation and budget manual.

He said there was no truth in the Chief Minister and ministers' statements that the state's financial performance was good. Deficits and debts had increased manifold in the past three years.

The double digit growth rate of 10.22 per cent under the TDP rule came down to -2.58 per cent. This was enough to show the extent of the financial crisis that was caused till now.

Ramakrishnudu said even in the welfare programmes, the Jagan government was under performing compared to other states. AP stood in 19th place in DBT (direct benefit transfer) schemes. Economic inequalities increased from 34 per cent to 43 per cent. Capital expenditure fell from Rs 19,976 crore in 2018-`19 to Rs 14,000 crore in 2020-`21. Revenue and loans increased but capital expenditure came down.

The TDP leader termed it laughable on the part of Rajendranath Reddy to say they had spent Rs 1.20 lakh crore on DBT programmes directly.

The TDP leader said that revenue increased by 12.6 per cent when compared to the period from 2016 to 2019 under the TDP rule. The collections in the last three years of the TDP rule were Rs 3,18,716 crore while those in the first three years of the YSRCP were Rs 3,58,837 crore. There was an increase of 12.6 per cent which was Rs 40,121 crore.

Moreover, the YSRCP government brought massive loans of Rs 3,71,756 crore. The revenue and loans put together would come to Rs 7,30,593 crore.