Jupally Krishna Rao defends one-year celebrations of government, asserting it as restoration of democracy

Jupally Krishna Rao Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Tourism and Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao has defended the celebrations organised by the Congress government to mark completion of one year in office, asserting that they are reflective of restoration of democracy in the State.

The 10-year tenure of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti was an epitome of “dictatorial and autocratic rule” with barricades at every place as its hallmark. The Congress government has ensured that people have a say in the governance. “Leave alone the opposition parties, there was no scope for appointments to Ministers in former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s government,” Mr. Krishna Rao told The Hindu.

There was no scope for the common man to represent his grievances and the previous government scuttled the freedom of expression by imposing restrictions on Dharna Chowk at Indira Park. People were terrorised by the BRS leaders against submitting their grievances for 10 long years. “The Congress government has restored the freedom allowing people to represent their issues at Praja Bhavan and Secretariat. This is a major achievement of our government and we have every right to celebrate,” he said.

The Minister recalled how a revenue-surplus State was created due to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s intervention notwithstanding the adverse impact the party would face in the two Telugu States. “Ms. Gandhi’s birthday is on December 9 and we have decided to celebrate her birthday as she fulfilled the aspirations of lakhs of people including youth who sacrificed their lives for the long cherished dream of separate Telangana,” he said.

He recalled how from around ₹ 65,000-crore debt in the past more than five decades, the State incurred a debt burden of over ₹ 8 lakh crore and has been pushed into financial doldrums. From a stage where the annual debt servicing was around ₹6,000 crore during the more-than-six-decades rule of the Congress and the TDP, the present government is forced to repay principal and interest of over ₹ 6,500 crore monthly due to the excessive borrowings by the previous government, he said.

“From revenue-surplus State to debt of over ₹8 lakh crore including those pertaining to the power utilities, we are struggling hard to ensure that there is no stoppage of welfare schemes,” he said. In spite of fulfilling the debt servicing obligations, the Government had implemented farm loan waiver of ₹ 21,000 crore at one go. Simultaneously, several of the guarantees given by the Congress like free bus travel to women, free power up to 200 units to eligible families and ₹500 bonus a quintal for fine rice had been implemented in the past one year. “Will it not call for a celebration?” he asked.