Stop False Propaganda on State Debt, Harish Tells Jupally

HYDERABAD: Former minister and senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Friday refuted “false propaganda by the Congress” on how much debt Telangana had. Replying to a letter from minister Jupally Krishna Rao on the debt issue, Harish Rao said “the BRS government’s borrowings, including government-guaranteed loans, stood at `4.17 lakh crore over nine-and-a-half years. I stand by the figures I presented in the Assembly.”

On the other hand, Harish Rao said, the Congress government’s own debt figures had discrepancies. Referring to the minister’s letter, Harish Rao said Krishna Rao claimed the Congress government borrowed `1,77,058 crore between December 2023 and June 2026. But, according to the Reserve Bank of India, the figure had reached `1,86,067 crore as of June 30.

“Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s statement in the Legislative Assembly on March 18 this year said the Congress government’s FRBM borrowings and other liabilities together amounted to `3,47,294 crore. The BRS had consistently maintained the same figures and had never altered its stand on the state’s borrowings. But the Congress leadership was frequently changing debt figures to suit its political narrative,” Harish Rao said.

Harish Rao also said in the letter that according to BRS’ calculations, the Congress government raised approximately `4.5 lakh crore through various borrowing mechanisms, and urged the minister “to examine the evidence carefully” and stop making misleading statements on Telangana’s financial position in the future.