WP vindictive in nature: Harish

Hyderabad: BRS leader T Harish Rao on Wednesday said that the white paper released by the Congress government was an act of vindictiveness to create a wrong impression against BRS and its leader and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and paint Telangana as ‘Bimaru’ state.

The white paper generated a lot of heat in the assembly as the short discussion turned into a day-long discussion.

Challenging the government to constitute any probe on irrigation projects, Harish Rao said that the BRS had laid a strong foundation for a strong economy. “Instead of showcasing the progress made by the state, the white paper had distorted facts. The details were far from the truth and were only to defame the earlier government,” he said.

Harish Rao alleged that the government took the help of a retired IAS officer to draft this report. “This report has been prepared conveniently to show Telangana as a bankrupt state. The government tried to prepare a cooked up story,” said Harish Rao.

He said Telangana was at fifth place from the bottom of the list in terms of taking loans. There was Rs 3.36-lakh crore capital expenditure, but this was not shown. The BRS government tried to create assets but they failed to mention. He recalled how the government had never stopped welfare and development programmes despite the problems due to the corona pandemic. “It is foolish to say it was bankrupt. State’s money will not be stored in an almirah hence calling it bankrupt is not good,” said Harish Rao.

Responding to this, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar asked if everything was good why the salaries for the government employees were not paid on the first of every month.

Harish Rao said that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) gradually increased by 159.6 per cent with the steps taken by the government in nine years. Similarly, the per capita income also increased.

The government, he said, had lowered the prestige of the state by hiding the achievements. The state cannot take loans without the permission of the Centre. He recalled that the Centre had assured to provide 0.5 per cent additional borrowings if the State accepted the electricity reforms. The States like Karnataka and Rajasthan agreed to fix motors but the BRS chief refused to do so in the interest of farmers.

Responding to this, Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said that there was nowhere mentioned in the reforms that farmers should be billed or charged for power they consume. He said, “I was a member of the committee and there is nothing like collecting the bills from the farmers.”

On the observation of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy that a loan of Rs 95,000 crore was taken for the Kaleshwaram project, Harish Rao said that the money was used on the Kaleshwaram and the Palamuru Lift irrigation projects.