YSRCP alleges ‘misleading projections’ in Budget
Vijayawada: YSRCP leader and former finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Saturday mounted a sharp critique of the NDA government’s 2026–27 Budget, alleging misrepresentation of fiscal data, inflated revenue projections and lack of transparency on the State’s debt position.
Responding to the Budget tabled by the NDA coalition government led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the YSRCP leader said the document pegged total expenditure at Rs 3.32 lakh crore, matching projected receipts including Rs 98,065 crore in borrowings, but lacked detailed historical comparisons of revenue, expenditure and debt trends.
Rajendranath Reddy argued that the government’s revenue assumptions were unrealistic. He noted that revenue receipts for 2025–26 were revised down from Rs 1,28,126 crore to Rs 1,11,865 crore, with Rs 67,459 crore reportedly collected in the first nine months. Expecting over Rs 44,000 crore in the final quarter to meet revised targets, he said, appeared implausible. He also questioned the projection of Rs 1,37,320 crore for the next fiscal, describing the implied growth rate as economically improbable.
Alleging inconsistencies, he claimed the state had already borrowed over Rs 81,000 crore in nine months while projecting revised annual borrowings of Rs 80,500 crore. He flagged what he described as large off-budget borrowings through corporations and agencies. He demanded a white paper detailing liabilities across state entities.
Rejecting claims that the YSRCP had left behind excessive debt, Reddy said official records from the CAG and RBI indicated that total state debt rose from Rs 1.78 lakh crore in 2014 to Rs 3.69 lakh crore in 2019, and further to Rs 6.46 lakh crore by 2024. “During our five-year tenure, the increase in debt was Rs 3,39,500 crore. But between 2014 and 2019, debt rose at an annual growth rate of 22 per cent. Reddy also dismissed claims that the YSRCP had left behind liabilities of Rs 9.74 lakh crore, questioning whether official data from the CAG, the RBI, and legislative records were all incorrect.
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Botcha Satyanarayana said that the entire budget introduced by the Chandrababu Naidu government is a gimmick and does not benefit any section of the society.
