Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram says KCR has ruined Telangana State’s economy. Do you agree?

Congress senior leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s strident attack against KCR for derailing State’s economy evoked mixed reaction from the people. While some endorsed PC’s statement, few others differed with him owing to a variety of reasons. Readers who backed PC’s allegation said that KCR has pushed the State into debt-trap with his so-called populist programmes

I completely agree with Chidambaram’s views. When compared to 2014 situation, the State is now absolutely not in a good position. The TRS government has undertaken some huge projects involving large amounts of money. It further, wasted so much money in the name of redesigning projects. Moreover, money beyond the requirement was spent on welfare schemes, where largescale corruption has been reported. - Nujetti Vani, self-employed, Karimnagar

It is absolutely true that TRS government has launched a number of schemes and implemented them successfully. It has spent huge amounts of money for the welfare of public and it’s common the State got into debts due to its spending on people’s welfare. So, it is not correct on the part of Chidambaram to make such comments. I don’t agree with his views. -Kommuroju Raja Narsimha Chary, electrician, Huzurabad, Karimnagar

I totally agree with Chidambaram’s statement. The State had surplus money post bifurcation. However, the TRS government, with no help from Centre, spent the money on several schemes and irrigation projects pushing the State into debts. -P Rambabu, Kothagudem

Yes, I partially agree with Chidambaram’s statement. After assuming power in the State, with a surplus budget in hand, KCR could have worked in a better way. But, he lost the ground and imitated the earlier Andhra rulers. The issues related to government jobs, water and distribution of funds were not addressed. Further, he did not show any interest in infrastructure development and fooled people by stating that his government got so many awards from different organisations, including the Central government offices. In my view, the only work for which he has allocated funds completely was celebration of Bathukamma and for its publicity. - B Srinivas, security guard, Ramnagar

The economy of a State is reflected in the pace of its growth. The State is toping with a growth of 17 per cent per annum, that means the economy of the State is growing at double the rate of country’s growth. This clearly tells us that the future earnings would be more than the debts. I would always see the quantum of investment done in healthcare, infrastructure, human resources, education and other productive sectors, which will ultimately reap benefits in future. Therefore, I don’t agree what Chidambaram’s views with regard to Telangana State’s economy. -N Deepthi, engineering student, Mahbubnagar

Yes, I certainly agree with former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that KCR has ruined Telangana State’s economy. When Telangana was formed as a new State it had surplus budget. KCR wasted several thousand crores of surplus budget and pushed the State into debts. It all happened due to visionless schemes and works taken up by the TRS government. He failed to keep several of the promises which he made when the TRS came to power in 2014. When elections were nearing, he become panicky and started announcing schemes to people section-wise. -M Suryakant, engineering student, Hyderguda

I don’t know how a Former Finance Minister like Chidambaram is looking at the Telangana’s economy. Whether is he looking from the perspective of debts incurred by Telangana government or from the view point of investments is what we need to know. If he is analysing from the debt point of view, definitely excess debts may create long term pressure on the economy. But if the money is invested in the productive sectors like agriculture, irrigation, education, healthcare and manufacturing, definitely the State will reap 10 times more of what it has invested. So, increase in debts in the current term may be scary, but its returns in the long term will be more productive. So merely looking at debts and describing the whole economy of the State is not a wise thing. Debts incurred for productive investments will definitely yield good results. And I feel with all sectors improving in Telangana, the State will register good growth in the coming up days. -M Chander, employee, Midjil

I don’t agree with Chidambaram’s statement. Because, K Chandrashekar Rao led TRS government implemented several schemes in the last four years. The money was spent on schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Kalyana Lakshmi, Shaadi Mubharak, Mission Kakatiya besides Kaleshwaram project. With no funds from Centre, the State government had to spend every penny from its pocket for the implantation of schemes. -K Venkateswara Rao, Kothagudem