Telugu Desam Party national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has criticised the State government for “not showing any commitment or assurance” in its Budget for 2020-21 to make genuine efforts to uplift the poor people and usher in balanced growth in the State.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Naidu said the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) neglected good governance in the past one year. Now, the government was focussing on turning its falsehoods into truths in a bid to further cover up the massive destruction it has done so far, he alleged. The Budget is full of false claims, lies and betrayals. The Government fulfilled only 59.6% promises as against 90% being claimed by the Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Mr. Naidu said.
Expendiure
The TDP chief said that the previous TDP Government spent ₹19,976 cr for capital expenditure in 2018-19 while the YSRCP regime could spend only ₹12,865 crore. This was not even half of its commitment and that too it was a revised estimate, not actual. In respect of loans, Andhra Pradesh got ₹2.57 lakh crore debts since the formation of the State till 2018-19. This was raised to ₹3.02 lakh crore in the last one year and estimated to be ₹3.5 lakh crore the next year. The YSRCP raised the State debt by ₹1 lakh crore. There are doubts more loans may be taken by the government without any responsibility towards the management of finances or economy, he said.
Mr. Naidu said the government failed to spend the allocations it made for the crucial agriculture and irrigation sectors in 2019-20. While the previous TDP government spent ₹14,000 crore for irrigation in 2018-19, the present government spent only ₹4,900 crore during 2019-20. However, it was making tall claims of aiming to complete all projects in the next four years. In agriculture also, the TDP spent ₹8,168 crore in 2018-19 as against just ₹5,.986 crore in 2019-20. Still, the Finance Minister makes wrong claims that they have spent on market intervention, natural calamities, Rythu Bharosa and so on, he said.
Mr. Naidu blamed the Chief Minister’s “bankrupt policies” for the decline in agricultural growth rate to just 8% as against 11%cent during TDP time, which was despite drought and other problems. With its committed efforts, the TDP was able to achieve double-digit overall growth rate during its regime while the same has come down to 8.16 per cent, he claimed
CRDA Bill
On the issue of three Capitals and CRDA Act Repeal Bills passed in the Assembly, Mr. Naidu asserted that his party would continue its fight in the Legislative Council and outside. These issues were pending before the court and the Advocate-General himself told the High Court that the Bills in question were referred to a Select Committee. Whatever procedures being adopted by the YSRCP government were unethical, illegal and illogical, he added.
