Senior TDP leader and former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said on November 11 that Andhra Pradesh landed in a debt trap, but instead of taking corrective action, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had been maligning the opposition parties for criticising its failure in containing the damage wrought by its own policies.
In a press release, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy kept telling lies even as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) and agencies like CRISIL warned of a financial disaster.
“The CRISIL has just downgraded the credit rating of ‘Amaravati bonds’. According to a recent report of Deutsche Bank chief economist Kaushik Das on the fiscal health of States, Andhra Pradesh‘s rank slipped to 11 in FY-23 from eight in FY-22,” Mr. Ramakrishnudu said.
The State Government was barely surviving on overdraft, for which the government’s wasteful expenditure was to be largely blamed. The government was painting a rosy picture, but people were not fools to be swayed by its statistical jugglery, he said.
‘No development’
Mr. Ramakrishnudu said there was no trace of development, as Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was obsessed with pressing buttons, i.e. disbursing money under various welfare schemes. The Chief Minister paid little attention to creating wealth, which the TDP did in no small measure amidst heavy odds.
The government had blatantly diverted sub-plan funds amounting to nearly ₹1.14 lakh crore due to be spent on the welfare of SCs, STs, BCs and minorities. The government’s policies stoked the prices of essential commodities like never before. This surge in prices badly hurt the poor, the TDP leader added.
