As debts pile up, Andhra Pradesh stares at a bleak future, says BJP State president Purandeswari

There has been no asset creation in Andhra Pradesh in the last four years, and the funds meant for gram panchayats too have been diverted, BJP State president Purandeswari alleges

In the last four years, there has been no asset creation in Andhra Pradesh, and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is piling up debts to fund his welfare schemes, which is already adversely hitting the State, and will push it into doldrums, says BJP State president D. Purandeswari.

Speaking to The Hindu here on July 29 (Saturday), Ms. Purandeswari said that the State government had already availed of ₹2.20 lakh crore as loans from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officially under the FRBM limits.

This apart, the government had unofficially mobilised over ₹4.50 lakh crore through various corporations, by mortgaging the State’s assets, and by showing the future revenue from liquor sales, she alleged.

“Andhra Pradesh now stares at a very bleak future,” Ms. Purandeswari observed.

“Even the Union government obtains loans. But in lieu of it, assets such as road and rail networks are created, which in turn earn revenues. That is how it should be,” she asserted.

When Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was apprised of the situation recently, she had expressed anguish and agreed to look into it, Ms. Purandeswari said.

“But in a federal set-up like ours, there is little the Union government can do if loans are mobilised unofficially,” she said.