TRS Govt is lying on economic growth figures: Congress

Hyderabad: The Congress party on Thursday accused the TRS Government of manipulating economic data to highlight Telangana as the richest and fastest growing State to extract benefit in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Official Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin said that the TRS Government's claims of Telangana State having over 17% growth rate were far from reality. Similarly, the claims on Per Capita Income were highly disputable, he said.

"Telangana's economy is in extremely bad shape. CM KCR is giving wrong and misleading figures on Telangana's economy. In his budget speech on February 22, 2019, the Chief Minister claimed that Telangana's GSDP has increased from 4.2% in 2013-14 to 10.6% in 2018-19. He also claimed that Telangana was estimated to grow at 15% in 2018-19 as against country's growth rate of 12.3%. These statistics are far from reality and there is no clue how he arrived at these figures," Syed Nizamuddin said.

The Congress leader pointed out that the Chief Minister in his budget speech has claimed that the State's per capita income at current prices was estimated at Rs. 2,06,107 for the year 2018-19, as against Rs.1,81,102 in 2017-18 showing an increase of 13.8%. This is significantly higher than the national growth of 8.6%. "We have 87,44,245 Ration Cards covering 2,80,95,138 beneficiaries in Telangana. The income limit for the eligibility of the BPL families (priority households) in rural areas is Rs.1.50 lakhs and Rs. 2 lakhs in urban areas.

If KCR's statement is true and our per capital income is Rs. 2,06,107/- then Telangana should not have any person living Below Poverty Line. Similarly, we have 39,42,371 people covered under Aasra Pension. Nearly 30 lakh youth, including 18.50 lakh registered with Telangana State Public Service Commission, are jobless. Therefore, how can Telangana be the richest State with nearly 80% people living Below Poverty Line, almost 12% surviving on Aasra Pension and over 30 lakh youth, who constitute about 8.5% of total population, not having any job?" he asked.

Nizamuddin said that the TRS Govt was trying to take advantage of the fact that common people does not understand economics. However, he said that the Chief Minister was wrong in thinking that people can't even do simple maths. Citing an instance, he said On December 11, 2018, the day when results were announced, the Chief Minister's Office issued a press release by claiming that the Telangana state has been consistently achieving an average revenue growth rate of 17.17% during the last four financial years. It also claimed that the State has achieved a record growth rate in state's own tax revenue collections to a tune of 29.97% up to November 2018. "The collections up to November 2018 during 2018-19 financial year amounted to Rs. 44,183.55 Crores whereas during the same period in 2017-18 financial year it was Rs. 33,995.92 crores," it was claimed in the CMO press release.

Furnishing month-wise statistics of Telangana's revenue receipts since June 2014, the Congress leader described the TRS Government's claims as misleading. According to CAG Report, the Tax Revenue of Telangana up to November was Rs. 50,282.15 Crore and the amount in same period in 2017-18 was Rs. 44,666.11 Crore which is just 11.17% and not 29.97% as claimed by the CMO. If the figures of CAG are to be believed, then the Telangana's revenue growth was just 11-12%.

Quoting a report of CAG, Syed Nizamuddin said for the year 2018-19, as against the budget estimate of Rs. 167,859.35 crore, the actuals up to February 2019 were just Rs. 108,256.34 crore or 77.50% "This means that Telangana is even unable to reach its target properly. This amount includes Rs. 22,534.58 crore loans. It means more than 20% of revenues are coming through loans," he said.

The Congress leader said that the Chief Minister might hit the headlines by giving wrong figures of economy. But in the longer run, people of Telangana will suffer. He said time has now come for the people to defeat BJP and TRS who have ruined our economy and still cheating the people with misleading statistics. "This is tax payers money and we need honest people to handle the public exchequer. People should take a wise decision and vote for Congress in Lok Sabha elections," he said.

Nizamuddin also welcomed the statement of former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan wherein he described 'Nyuntam Aay Yojana' or NYAY scheme proposed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi as workable. He said Raghuram Rajan has predicted that the scheme would promote growth at the grassroots level. "Raghuram Rajan is a noted economist and his views are of high significance. Congress party has always designed pro-people schemes like NREGA which revolutionised lives of poor people," he said.

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi has announced that Rs 72,000 per year will be given as minimum income to poor families, benefiting around 25 crore people, if Congress party is voted to power in Lok Sabha polls. It will benefit over 50 lakh people in Telangana State. Congress party always adopted a realistic approach to issues concerning common people. We don't create illusions to mislead people," he said.

The Congress leader accused BJP Government at the Centre and TRS Government in Telangana of playing around with economic data to create the illusion of growth. "They are not releasing data on unemployment and manipulating data which is available in public domain. Raghuram Rajan has also expressed doubts over Indian economy growing at 7% when not enough jobs were being created. BJP Govt has ruined the entire economy with its wrong policies and now it is not willing to tell the reality to people. TRS Govt is exactly doing the same thing in Telangana. People must teach both BJP and TRS a fitting lesson in forthcoming Lok Sabha elections," he said.