Andhra Pradesh: TDP tells Buggana to stop 'telling stories' on Rs 41,000 crore lapses

Mangalagiri: TDP MLC P Ashok Babu on Wednesday accused finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy of telling meaningless stories instead of giving straightforward explanations as to why their government bypassed the treasury account in order to pay a whopping Rs 41,000 crore public funds directly to unknown recipients.

Ashok Babu advised the finance minister to give relevant explanations to simple questions asked by state Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Payyavula Keshav. It was now clear that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government was not in a position to clarify on the letter written by the Principal Accountant General (PAG).

Rajendranath Reddy should give details as asked by Keshav since their government would not be able to escape without explaining to the PAG in future, he said.

Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader termed it as shameless on the part of the YSRCP government to make comparisons to the Central government with regard to loans. The finance minister should explain why AP's performance was very low when compared to the Centre in loans as a percentage of GDP. Why did AP loans form over 24 per cent of its GDP? The Jagan regime brought Rs 1.70 lakh crore loans in two years but there was zero development for which the present rulers owed explanations to the public, he said.

Ashok Babu strongly objected to the finance minister's statement that the Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) introduced by the previous TDP regime was responsible for the accounting lapses in Rs 41,000 crore. In that case, Rajendranath Reddy should explain why their government did not cancel the CFMS just like it demolished Praja Vedika building on the first day of coming to power.

The TDP leader asserted that it was a duty on the part of the Jagan government to tell the people what it did with Rs. 1.70 lakh crore loans brought in the past two years. "Where did all this money go when there is no development of any sort? Not a single industry came to Andhra Pradesh and not a single project has taken up ever since the YSRCP came to power. The finance minister should clarify to whom such massive loans were distributed in violation of the budgetary code," said Ashok Babu.

He demanded the finance minister to come out with a white paper on the loans taken by their government and the funds allocated for capital expenditure and welfare. It was only because of the lack of capital expenditure that AP suffered a heavy blow, he remarked.