The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have criticised the Congress Government in Telangana for introducing a “hollow budget” in the assembly with no clarity on how the ruling party is planning to raise resources for fulfilling its spree of promises made to people in the run up to the State Assembly Elections-2023.
BRS MLA Kadiyam Srihari and BJP’s A. Maheshwar Reddy wondered as to how the Government inflated the budget estimates without clarifying on the sources for revenue mobilisation. The Government’s intentions, they alleged, appeared to be delaying the implementation of its promises and six guarantees in the name of working out modalities and finalising guidelines for their implementation.
Participating in the debate on the vote-on-account budget in the assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Srihari wondered as to how the outlay for 2024-25 was pegged at Rs. 2.75 lakh crore when the revised estimates of the current fiscal put the outlay at Rs. 2.24 lakh crore. “How is the Government planning to raise the additional Rs. 50,000 crore? Is it planning to tax the people? There is no clarity on the sources of revenue,” he said.
The Government had enhanced the tax revenue for the next fiscal by Rs. 20,000 crore over the current financial year without clarifying how it planned to raise the resources. The State’s Own Tax Revenue had already reached 84.2% and further enhancement would not be significantly higher. The Congress which was vocal in its criticism that the previous Government pushed the State into debts had, however, decided to raise Rs. 59,625 crore as debts for the fiscal 2024-25 even as the fiscal deficit was estimated in excess of Rs. 53,200 crore.
“How can the Government fulfil its promises given its plans for raising huge debts at a time when the fiscal deficit is so high?” he asked. Mr. Srihari pooh-poohed the claims of the Congress Government that the BRS Government failed to effectively manage the situation and said the significant growth in the indices like GSDP, per capita income and capital expenditure mentioned in the budget speech by the Finance Minister were proof of the performance of the BRS Government over the past close to 10 years.
The Congress came to power on the basis of spree of promises and assurances it made to people without taking into consideration the finances of the State. This could be seen from the allocation of ₹ 53,196 crore for the six guarantees which, by conservative estimates, involve an expenditure of close to ₹1.5 lakh crore. “The Government is apparently waiting for the announcement of the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections so that it can escape from its responsibilities,” he alleged.
Mr. Maheshwar Reddy said while the Governor’s address to the joint sitting of the legislature elaborated on the guarantees given by the Congress, the same focus was not kept in making allocations for their implementation in the budget. While several sectors did not receive the attention they needed, the Government had pegged the Capital Expenditure at Rs. 29,669 crore in the total outlay of Rs. 2.75 lakh crore.
The agriculture sector, for instance, was given ₹19,746 crore for the fiscal, the amount which would not be sufficient for implementation of the Congress’ promise of Rythu Bharosa. “How will the Government implement other assurances like ₹500 bonus and loan waiver up to ₹2 lakh at one go?” he asked.
Legislative Affairs Minister D. Sridhar Babu who intervened in the debate more than once, reiterated that the Congress Government was committed to implement its assurances to the people and modalities were being worked out for their effective implementation.
