KCR making Eatala a whipping boy: Revanth

​Hyderabad: Congress leader and MLA A Revanth Reddy on Saturday said Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao wants to make Finance Minister Eatala Rajendar scapegoat for the reprimands of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to the government on budget management. 

He said the Finance Minister did not have any control on the preparation of the budget and added that the Chief Minister was using the CAG report to get rid of Rajendar from the cabinet. He said that Eatala Rajendar was not even allowed to meet the Chief Minister or to attend the meetings of Finance department then how can he made responsible for the CAG’s reprimands. 

Addressing the media, Revanth said the report of the CAG exposed lack of control on the administration to the rulers. The CAG said that as much as 40 per cent of the budget was not spent. The Chief Minister spent time by instigating the emotions of the people while taking rest for the past four years. The State was made to become bankrupt as the government went on to borrow in order to get commissions from the spending on some projects, he added. 

Revanth alleged that the government spent Rs 5,800 crore on purchase of power unnecessarily and this was pointed out by the CAG. He said the government put the Palamuru project in pending and had been spending thousands of crores of rupees on Kaleswaram project to get commissions. 

The MLA said that an officer who caused losses to Singareni Collieries was appointed as principal secretary of the Finance department. Though the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management act restricted borrowing to 3.5 per cent of the GDP in a year, the government went on to borrow up to 4.8 per cent. 

He informed that the Congress would gather information and submit to the concerned departments. He made it clear that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was responsible for the financial mess and he should resign. He said that it was a crime to show the loans as revenue and the government indulged in a financial crime. 

He wanted to know what answer the Chief Minister would give to the issues being raised by the CAG. He said that a White Paper should be released on it. He wanted to know why the government has gone for borrowings while there was surplus of thousands of crores of rupees. 

Revanth said the payments were being made to some through green channel without referring them to the Finance Department. He demanded that a criminal case be booked against Principal Secretary of Finance K Ramakrishna Reddy.