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Hope next govt at Centre needs support of YSRCP: Jagan in Andhra assembly
Chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed hope that any party that comes to power at the Centre depend on the support of YSRCP
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday expressed hope that any party that comes to power at the Centre in the upcoming elections should not get an absolute majority, but depend on the support of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP).
“I strongly wish whichever party comes to power at the Centre in the upcoming elections should not get an absolute majority. At least then, we can expect the special category status to Andhra Pradesh,” Jagan said while replying to a debate on a motion of thanks to the governor’s address in the state legislative assembly.
He said that he wished that there would be a favourable government at the Centre that would rely on the support of the YSR Congress party, so that it would fulfil the state’s demands, granting special category status to the state.
Jagan said, Andhra Pradesh was unjustly divided, resulting in tremendous loss to the state.
“Had the Union government given a written assurance instead of an oral one on special category status in Parliament, we could have waged a legal battle and got the special category status,” he added.
Chief minister Jagan Reddy regretted that Andhra Pradesh had to suffer severe economic loss after foregoing a capital city like Hyderabad.
“A state should have economic powerhouses in the form of cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Chennai. Such cities are essential for any state to develop,” he said.
He said Andhra Pradesh had been incurring a loss of ₹13,000 crore every financial year due to the biased distribution of assets under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
“In the last 10 years, Andhra Pradesh has lost ₹1.40 lakh crore by losing right over Hyderabad,” he said.
Describing his election manifesto as a holy book, Jagan claimed that his government had implemented several welfare schemes and taken up development activities with financial discipline despite adverse situations like the Covid-19 pandemic.
He dismissed the charges of the opposition parties that his government had made the state debt-ridden.
“We rolled out direct benefit transfer (DBT) welfare schemes worth ₹2.55 lakh crore and non-DBT welfare schemes worth ₹1.7 lakh crore. The previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government, too, had the same budget but it could not deliver any welfare to the people,” he claimed.
He said that the debt of the residuary Andhra Pradesh in 2014 stood at ₹1.53 lakh crore, including all types of loans and it had gone up to ₹4,12,288 crore in 2019 when the YSR Congress Party came to power.
“Now, the total debt stands at ₹7.3 lakh crore. The growth rate of debt during the TDP rule stood at 21.87%, while it stands at 12.13% during the last five years,” he said.
He pointed out that there was a considerable fall in the devolution of central funds and reduced tax revenues during the last five years due to several reasons, including the pandemic that resulted in a revenue loss of ₹66,116 crore.
Meanwhile, senior TDP leader and former state finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said, Jagan had misled the assembly by distorting facts and figures. He said the chief minister had conveniently avoided mentioning indiscriminate off-budget borrowings.
“Taking them into account, the debts incurred by the Jagan government in the last five years were to the extent of over ₹5 lakh crore. Besides, there are huge outstanding payments, including arrears to the employees and payment of bills to the contractors,” he said, adding that the debts are more than 45% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), as against the permissible limit of 35%.
Earlier in the day, assembly speaker Tammineni Seetharam suspended 13 TDP MLAs for creating a ruckus on the floor of the house. The TDP MLAs crossed the line and stood on the podium demanding that the speaker take up a discussion on the adjournment motion they gave on spiralling consumer prices in the state.
When there was no order in the house even after the tea break, the speaker suspended the TDP members.
