Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Sunday lashed out at the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government, alleging that the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) is creating records as an “income-less state”.
The TDP politburo member slammed the YSRCP government for turning AP into a “debt-ridden state with no new sources of revenue generation”, and alleged that the state exchequer does not have enough funds to adequately carry out welfare and development activities.
Ramakrishnudu asserted that the YSRCP government, headed by chief minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had not only brought all “development to a standstill”, but had also handed over far “less welfare benefits” to the poor, as compared with the previous TDP government run by former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
The former minister added that the state had performed “worse” and claimed that it secured second position in poverty levels. “AP is creating new records as an income-less state in the country,” he remarked. In the press statement, the TDP leader stated that the AP government has taken loans of Rs 2.68 lakh crore in the past two and half years.
As per the claims of the finance minister, Buggana Rajendra Reddy, that Rs 1.05 lakh crore was distributed among the poor families; Ramakrishnudu alleged that only Rs 68,632 crore was distributed under direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes.
“The CM and his minister should explain what they had done with the rest of Rs 1.99 lakh crore,” the TDP leader asserted in the press briefing.
Ramakrishnudu alleged that the YSRCP regime spent only 25.5 % of the total loans on the DBT schemes, which he said amount upto Rs. 68,632 Cr.
Further he stated that a meager amount of Rs. 31,000 crores was spent on capital expenditure in the past two and half years, which if deducted from Rs. 2.68 lakh crore loans, would amount to Rs. 1.68 lakh crore for which there is no record.
Moreover, TDP leader Ramakrishnudu deplored the “economic divide” that according to him have assumed alarming proportions. “During 2018-19, AP stood in 6th position in poverty but now it climbed to 2nd position. It indicated a clear rise in poverty levels of the people despite the Government’s claims on improved living standards on account of its welfare programmes,” he added.
The former minister added that the number of below poverty line (BPL) families was rising steeply and blamed ‘the inefficient policies and decisions’ of the Jagan Reddy for the deepening crisis.