CM KCR, Bhatti Vikramarka spar over recession

Hyderabad: The state Assembly witnessed spar between leader of Congress Legislature Party Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during the general discussion on budget proposals.

The Chief Minister intervened on number of times saying that the Opposition was trying to politicise the issue of recession though in his speech he had admitted that there has been a cut in the size of the budget this year and had also explained in detail the reasons for it.

He said he will not remain silent if the Congress leader tries to twist the facts and present them in the House.

When Bhatti tried to make a point that the state had landed in huge debts in last five years, an angry chief minister contested the figure and said can you prove it.

He said the members should speak truth and present real facts and figures and he will not be mute spectator to such false statements.

He said it was a fact that they had raised loans, but everything was as per the FRBM regulations and the government had never faulted in repayment.

Former deputy speaker Bhatti said that he does not understand why the chief minister was getting agitated and was interrupting him time and again.

He informed the Speaker that he should be allowed to present his viewpoint which reflects the views of people. The government may have its own priorities but that does not mean that they are people's priorities.

He said the chief minister should not try to muzzle the voice of opposition in such a manner. He said he had only mentioned that there was a variation in the projections made during vote-on- account budget and the full budget.

He said that the state government has tried to escape from implementation of the promises it had made in the vote-on- account budget on the pretext of recession in the present annual financial statement.

He said that the vote on account was presented with an expenditure of Rs 1.86 lakh crore whereas the full budget was presented with an estimate of Rs 1.46 lakh crore expenditure.

He said that within six months the budgetary allocations have been reduced by 20 per cent. He said that the budget should have been 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product of the state.

He said the government had failed in fulfilling promises like at least one job per house and lands. At this point Minister for MAUD K T Rama Rao challenged Bhatti to prove where the TRS had said that it would provide one job per family.

He said if he cannot prove he should apologise to the House and the people. He said they will not keep quiet if opposition does not stop spreading such wrong information.

Taking strong exception to this "threat" of KTR, Bhatti said that it was unfortunate that the government was becoming intolerant to criticism.

He said during agitation KCR had said that if state becomes reality one member from a family would get a job. But the government failed to fulfil the dreams of youth.

He said in five years surplus state has gone into debts to the tune of Rs 2.02 lakh crore. If guarantee given to various corporations is added debt burden would go up to Rs 3 lakh crore, he said.

Bhatti and CM locked horns even on matter pertaining to various irrigation projects. Bhatti said if the earlier conceived projects were continued more area would have been brought under irrigation.

He also alleged that the funds of SC and ST sub-plan have been diverted and that the condition of the government hospitals was in bad shape.