In Telangana, why it is an ‘open debate’ season as Congress, BRS, BJP trade fireworks

The ruling Congress in Telangana and the two major Opposition parties, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and BJP, seem to have intensified their tussle, daring each other for open debates over various issues, including state finances and corruption.

The current round of heated political exchanges, marked with allegations and counter-allegations, recently got underway with the BRS, led by K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR, accusing the Congress government of causing a multi-crore loss to the public exchequer by allegedly favouring certain companies in the Gurukul schools’ tendering process. The state government runs the Gurukul schools for students from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The Congress rejected the BRS’s allegations as baseless. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy attacked the BRS, charging that the previous KCR-led government had left the state in a financial crisis.

The BJP targeted both the Congress and the BRS, accusing them of not having used the central funds for the state’s development properly.

War of words

On July 2, a row erupted as four state ministers – Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman, Mohd Azharuddin and Jupally Krishna Rao – reached Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park in Hyderabad to seek a debate with the BRS leadership.

On their part, BRS leaders T Harish Rao and R S Praveen Kumar were stopped by the Hyderabad police as they stepped out from their party headquarters Telangana Bhavan to reach Gun Park for a debate with the Congress leaders.

On July 3, the BJP said it would defeat both the Congress and the BRS in a debate on public issues.

Congress pitch

Excise Minister and Congress leader Jupally Krishna Rao has challenged BRS working president K T Rama Rao or KTR to get his father KCR

to “prove that Telangana had not inherited a financial burden of Rs 8.2 lakh crore from the previous BRS government”. The BRS was in power in the state from 2014 – when Telangana was carved as a separate state from Andhra Pradesh – to 2023. Jupally said he would resign if he is proved wrong about this claim. “I challenge KTR to ask KCR to prove this financial record wrong. If they establish that my calculations are incorrect, I will resign,” he said.

Jupally said Telangana’s total financial burden stood at Rs 8,21,651 crore (including outstanding debt and unpaid liabilities) when the KCR government’s tenure ended in Dec 2023. He said that the direct government debt rose from Rs 84,268 crore in 2014 to Rs 5,16,881 crore by December 2023, driven by FRBM borrowings and loans raised through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). Unpaid liabilities included Rs 40,154 crore in pending bills and Rs 1,09,740 crore owed to discoms, power suppliers, SC/ST sub-plan commitments and other dues. Telangana Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy also backed these figures.

When asked why the Congress sought a debate on these issues with the Opposition, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and MLC Mahesh Kumar Goud told The Indian Express, “The BRS had looted the state and plunged it into debts worth crores. The public need to be aware of this.”

BRS stance

Rejecting the Congress’s allegations, BRS leaders, including KTR and Harish Rao, have maintained that the state’s financial condition was not in the doldrums in 2023 when the KCR government demitted office, claiming that a CAG report had pegged the state’s then outstanding debt at Rs 2.8 lakh crore.

KTR on Thursday challenged CM Revanth Reddy to convene a special session of the Assembly to debate the issue “if the government has the courage to face facts”. He alleged that the CM and Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka were “misleading people with contradictory and fabricated financial figures”.

The BRS has also alleged irregularities in the tenders this year for groceries, uniforms, footwear, notebooks and other supplies meant for the Gurukul educational institutions, resulting in a “scam”.

The BRS has also demanded a debate on the “Congress’s failed promises to the state’s farmers, women and Dalits”.

When asked why a public debate is necessary with the Congress, BRS leader Praveen Kumar said, “People should know how the Congress government is misleading the public and looting the state”.

BJP position

Wading into the dispute between the BRS and the Congress, the BJP claimed Friday that it could defeat both of them in a public debate. State BJP president N Ramchander Rao said the “BJP is prepared to set the stage and expose both Congress and BRS before the people of Telangana”.

He echoed the remarks made by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who on Thursday dared both the Congress and the BRS for a debate on Telangana’s debt and Gurukul tenders.

In an X post, Kumar said the BJP was ready to expose the “failures and irregularities” of both the Congress and the BRS before the people. He said the state BJP leadership would announce the date, time and venue for the debate, challenging leaders of both the parties to take part in it.

Kumar pitched for a debate on funds allocated to Telangana by the Narendra Modi government, and on welfare schemes implemented by the Centre in the state. “How much of these funds were utilised,” he asked, claiming that the Telangana people have decided for a “double elimination” of the Congress and the BRS and were looking towards a “double-engine government” in the state.