Jagan punch shatters Naidu’s growth claims

​Amaravati: The Naidu government’s claim over economic growth and development vision pronounced by Governor ESL Narasimhan during his address at the inaugural of the Budget Session of the AP Assembly came in for sharp criticism from Leader of Opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

Participating in a discussion over the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, Jagan described the claims as pack of lies and distortion of facts.

The Governor has stated in his prepared speech, “My state has recorded an impressive growth performance of 10.99 per cent in the fiscal year 2015-16, the only state in the country to record double digit growth.”

The picture presented by the Governor appeared to be so rosy that even the Centre might back out from extending any assistance to the successor state, the Opposition leader said in a lighter vein.

Jagan began his 1-hour-15 minute speech in a sarcastic tone saying that he prayed the God to let wisdom prevail over the treasury benches to enable him to play the role as an Opposition leader in the interest of the people at large.

His marathon address was quite often interrupted by the Legislative Affairs Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.

He sought to know how the state has clocked 10.99 per cent growth rate when the country is ending up with 7.57 per cent growth rate and the neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with sound revenue resources registered the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) of 8.79 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively and Maharashtra achieved 8 per cent.

He was surprised to come across with the claim of the AP's growth on such a fast trajectory and it remained a mystery.

Jagan questioned the wisdom of the government to unfold roadmaps for 2050 for development when it received a mandate from the people for only five years.

“After the elected governments will be in power for a mandated period of five years only and that it is always pragmatic to limit themselves conceiving vision documents within realm of the mandate only,” he counselled.

The Opposition leader jeered at the government for its claims over the war on drought and mitigating drought conditions with rain gun technologies. When the government has succeeded in its mission against drought, why could it declare 185 mandals drought-hit.

He also contested the claim of the government of registering 24.44 per cent growth in agriculture and allied sectors during April-September, 2016. When most parts of the state in Rayalaseema and Uttarandhra regions have been witnessing crop failure on account of recurring drought conditions, triggering an exodus of farmers and farm workers, how could it be possible to achieve such a robust growth in agriculture, the opposition leader asked.

The Governor in his address stated that release of input subsidy of Rs 605 crore for 2015-16 and 1,762 crore for current year are being quantified by the government for the relief of farmers. Jagan however criticized that the government could not pay input subsidy to drought victims for 2016-2017. The Opposition leader trained guns against the government for its alleged failure to ensure loan waiver for farmers in line with its election promise.

The governor however asserted in his speech that the government has enabled waiver of loans to the extent of Rs 11,000 crore liberating 55 lakh farmers from debts in the last two years.

Jagan picked holes in the government’s claims over irrigation projects. In the address, it was claimed that the irrigation projects worth Rs 1.93 lakh crore grounded. In contrast, the Socio-Economic Survey report showed that the investments made on irrigation projects during the TDP regime did not cross Rs 5561 crore.