2024-25 A.P. Budget is the best in the most difficult times, says Naidu
State’s total liabilities stand at a whopping ₹9.75 lakh crore, the coffers are almost empty but I have innovative ideas that will help the State wriggle out of the crisis gradually, assets CM
by V. Raghavendra · The HinduChief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the damage caused by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government to Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) in the last five years was even greater than the impact of the State bifurcation. However, the present government was overcoming the hurdles in its path step by step with the support of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.
In spite of being in the most difficult times, the State government could present the best Budget for FY 2024-25 in the Legislative Assembly (LA), he stated, and expressed his commitment to pulling the State out of the crisis inherited from the YSRCP slowly but steadily.
He pegged the total liabilities at approximately ₹9.75 lakh crore, including a government debt of ₹4,35,000 crore, and made it clear that the journey ahead was bound to be arduous due to the mess created by the YSRCP. “The coffers are almost empty but I have innovative ideas that will help the State wriggle out of the crisis gradually,” he asserted.
Replying to a general discussion on the 2024-25 Budget in the Assembly on Friday, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said the hard work done by the TDP government during 2014-19 had been squandered by the YSRCP which was mired in corruption, and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy treated the State like his fiefdom.
Financial crisis
The policies implemented by the YSRCP government pushed the State to the verge of bankruptcy, and the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) was in the dark about the State government accounts. The capital expenditure incurred by the YSRCP government was abysmal, while on the other hand it imposed a flurry of taxes on the people.
Mr. Naidu said the funds provided by the Central government were diverted on a large scale and 12 economic indicators painted an appalling picture of the State’s fiscal position.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed to have done a great thing by disbursing benefits under various schemes through the push of a button even as the soaring inflation ate into the people’s incomes. The YSRCP government mortgaged properties to raise funds for welfare schemes. Private investments had dried up and companies like Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Limited were forced to shift their manufacturing plants out of A.P.
Further, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said A.P. was caught in a debt trap and the NDA allies’ victory in the 2024 elections was a silver lining for the government as the State would otherwise slip into a far deeper trouble. The government took a zero-tolerance approach to those creating law and order problems and it was taking all other steps required to put the State back on the tracks, he added, noting that the burden of aspirations was quite heavy.
Published - November 15, 2024 07:51 pm IST