Bhatti accused Harish Rao of misleading the Telangana assembly on state responsibility

Mallu Bhatti Vikramark Photo Courtesy: Nagara Gopal

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Wickremarka invited Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs, former Finance Minister T. including Harish Rao, accused him of presenting misleading figures on the state’s financial liabilities during his tenure.

Initiating a discussion on ‘outstanding liabilities of the state’ in the Telangana Legislative Assembly session on Thursday, the Finance Minister alleged that Mr. Harish Rao downplayed the government’s liabilities in official documents. “In the book provided by Harish Rao, the column titled ‘temporary risk-weighted outstanding guarantee amount’ minimizes the actual loans taken through guarantees by labeling them as low risk. However, these loans will ultimately be paid by the government itself,” he said.

He further emphasized that Telangana’s total liabilities, including pending bills and additional liabilities, stand at ₹ 7,11,911 crore, which is significantly higher than the ₹ 6,71,157 crore reported in the government white paper. “Pensions, provident funds, hospital arrears, and pending bills for contractors, including liabilities to corporations and employees, add up to ₹ 40,154 crore. Another ₹ 40,000 crore is outstanding with various institutions, pushing the total debt to over ₹ 7 lakh crore,” he explained.

Rejecting Mr. Harish Rao’s repeated claims that the Congress government raised more than Rs.1.26 lakh crore in a year, Mr. Vikramarka recalled that during the same period, the principal and interest amount of loans raised by the Congress was repaid to the tune of Rs.1.13 crore. BRS Govt. Bhatti also accused the Congress government of taking loans not to spend indiscriminately on haphazard projects but to pay off debts and implement schemes. “We are trying to correct the financial mess that the BRS government has pushed the state,” he claimed.

Harish Rao accused Harish Rao of misleading the House by putting false figures in the budget as the Finance Minister during the time of BRS and accused him of doing the same while sitting in the opposition. If a privilege motion has to be moved, it should be moved against the BRS MLA. Meanwhile, a heated exchange erupted in the session after a Treasury Bench member allegedly called Harish Rao a “thief”. In retaliation, Mr. Rao referred to the member as a “useless fellow” and demanded that both comments be removed.

AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi slammed the Congress government for portraying the state’s financial health in a negative light, saying such an image could deter potential investors. He pointed out the discrepancy between the credit figures reported by the state government and those provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the previous BRS regime.