Describing the Governor’s Address on the opening session of the Third Assembly of Telangana as ‘total lies’, BRS MLA K.T. Rama Rao on Saturday said the Congress government was indulging in wrong publicity by claiming power generation and distribution companies were in debts.
Speaking on the motion on thanking Governor’s speech, he said the Congress government was hoodwinking people by claiming that TS Transco and TS Genco accumulated losses and were in debt. Mr. Rama Rao claimed that when BRS party came to power first time in 2014 the Transco and Genco had assets worth ₹7,460 crore and ₹ 19,000 crore respectively. By 2023, the same assets reached the values of ₹24,400 crore and ₹50,000 crore.
“How fair is it to speak only about loans ignoring the enhanced value of assets?” he asked. Referring to the allegations that the State’s power utility companies were neck-deep in debt, he asked if it “was wrong to invest money to improve power generation?” He clarified that BRS government went to open market buy power for farmers of the State.
Asserting that BRS party was always against affixing meters to electric motors used by farmers, Mr. Rama Rao challenged if the Congress government would adopt the same stand. Even the reported allegations that Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation too was in nearly ₹50,000 crore losses were false. The corporation had stocks worth ₹30,000 crore and funds receivable from the Centre worth ₹17,000 crore.
Accusing the Congress MLAs of resorting to false propaganda, he said the government was “politically and intellectually bankrupt”. He said the debt-GDP ratio of Japan and India was around 215% and 57% respectively. But that of Telangana State was only 27.8% which was a clear parameter pointing out the financial soundness of the State, he said.
Out of the 28 States in the country Telangana was 24th position as far as overall debt was concerned as per the RBI. Stating that the RBI’s reports about positive financial status of Telangana appeared with the photos of CM and Deputy CM, Mr. Rao quipped: “performance is ours, photos are yours”.
Referring to the motion thanking Governor’s Address initiated by Parigi MLA T. Rammohan Reddy and seconded by Chennur MLA G. Vivekanand, Mr. Rama Rao said their speeches reminded of a cat starting on a pilgrimage after eating 1,000 rats. Taking objection to his remarks, Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the condition of BRS leaders appeared to be “Uper Sherwani Andar Pareshani (well dressed outside tensed up inside)“.
Mr. Rama Rao continued his tirade against previous Congress rule stating that only ‘Ganji kendra’, encounters, power cuts for people, power holidays for industries and starvation deaths were the hallmarks of Congress governments. He said the BRS government that ruled Telangana for two consecutive terms had many credits like uninterrupted power to domestic and agriculture sectors.
Ridiculing Congress government’s assertion that it would release white papers on government departments, the former minister said his government in the past had already presented complete details of all departments to the public and in the Assembly. “There are no papers to be released,” he claimed.
