Jagan slams Naidu govt for ‘financial management’
Jagan claimed that despite taking such a huge loan, the government failed to fulfil any of its promises under the “Super Six” guarantees promised before the elections
The YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday alleged that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led coalition government in the state led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu destroyed the financial position of the state in a span of less than nine months and pushed the state into a debt trap.
Addressing a press conference at the party office in Tadepalli in Guntur district, Jagan said the Naidu government created a new record in resorting to indiscriminate borrowings crossing over ₹1.3 lakh crore in a span of nine months, but had failed to implement any of his pre-election promises.
Reeling out the figures, the former chief minister said in the last nine months, the Naidu government took ₹80,000 crore and was preparing to take an additional loan of ₹52,000 crore under the pretext of Amaravati’s construction, pushing the state into a debt trap.
He claimed that despite taking such a huge loan, the government failed to fulfil any of its promises under the “Super Six” guarantees promised before the elections. He questioned where such a massive amount of money had gone, if not towards implementing welfare schemes.
“During the elections, I warned the people that Naidu was giving false and impractical promises, but they did not listen to my words and voted for the TDP. Now, Naidu has betrayed their faith and proved once again that he cannot be trusted in fulfilling what he promises,” Jagan said.
Jagan recalled that the TDP had campaigned in the elections with the slogan “Babu’s Surety – Future Guarantee.” “But after nine months, it had turned into “Babu’s Surety – Betrayal Guarantee,” he said.
He said when the YSRCP was in power, the TDP leaders used to trivialise his direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes saying he was doing nothing except pressing the button. “But we released ₹2.8 lakh crore to the various sections of people under DBT schemes. Why has Naidu not been able to do that?” he asked.
Jagan also accused the coalition government of reducing the number of jobs in village and ward secretariats. “Instead of creating new employment opportunities, the Naidu government has terminated existing jobs. As many as 260,000 village and ward volunteers lost their positions, and 18,000 employees working in liquor shops were also removed from their jobs,” he criticised.
“The resentment among people and voices of questioning are growing, ringing danger bells to the coalition government. We shall expose the failures of Naidu and his betrayal of the people’s faith in the coming days,” Jagan said.
Reacting strongly to Jagan’s allegations, TDP spokesman Buddha Venkanna said it was ridiculous on the part of the YSRCP chief to say that the people were vexed with the TDP-led coalition government.
“He has forgotten the fact that people had voted out Jagan after watching his atrocious rule. It has not even been nine months since he lost power, but he has already started day-dreaming about Jagan 2.0 rule. He is in a state of illusion and it is better he should get treatment from a psychiatrist,” Venkanna said.
Stating that nobody was happy during the Jagan’s regime, except his own party MLAs and MPs, the TDP leader said the YSRCP president’s claims on the financial management was like a devil quoting scriptures. “His party did not even get the leader of opposition status. If he continues to make such wild allegations, his party won’t get even those 11 assembly seats,” Venkanna added.