Harish Rao Rebuts Union Finance Minister's Claim On Borrowings

Telangana Minister for Finance T Harish Rao dismissed union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's charges that the borrowings of Telangana were far more than allowed.

Speaking to the media today, Rao slammed the remarks of Sitharaman against the BRS government, claiming that Telangana's loans are under the permissible limits and that Telangana was one among the States which were borrowing the least in India.

"If the claim of Nirmala Sitharaman that Telangana is taking much higher loans than allowed were true, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) would have exposed that in his report and cautioned the State. But it is not happening. Does she say that the the CAG is not working well?" Rao asked.

Alleging that it was the union government that was taking loans beyond the permissible limits and thereby pushing the country into darkness, the finance minister said that the country's debt/GDP was 52% during the previous UPA government but had gone up to 56% under the current BJP government.

He also clarified that Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao had not criticised the goal of a $5 trillion economy set by the Centre, and that KCR had merely said that the union government's approach towards achieving that goal seemed to be a big joke.

"Now we are at US $3.3 trillion and within two years it will not be possible to achieve a US $5 trillion economy. That is what was pointed out by the CM," Rao explained.

The minister also found fault with the union government rejecting the setting up of medical colleges in those districts of Telangana where private colleges operated, and alleged that the same rule had not been followed by the Centre in sanctioning medical colleges for other States.