Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Friday asserted that the four-month old Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government was busy undoing the damage done by the previous Telugu Desam Party government to the financial position of the state.
“The financial position of the state was ruined to such an extent that it is extremely difficult to set the things right within three months. We need at least one year to bring the economy back on tracks,” Rajendranath Reddy said.
“TDP government has left behind a legacy of huge debts stemming from off-budget borrowings and loans from various corporations and extravagant spending and clearing the dues of their favoured contractors while mounting the dues to public services and other utilities,” he said.
On the reported news in a section of media about SBI letter on the loan taken by Andhra Pradesh Power Finance Corporation, he said that it was part of regular correspondence and it was not to his knowledge as to how it was leaked.
Giving further details, he said the outstanding guarantees by the state rose from Rs 9,665 cores in 2017 to Rs 35,964 cores in 2018 and this was the period of the previous government.
The pending bills and amounts drawn before elections were piled up on us and their mismanagement was carried forward and has fallen on us to clear. Now it is the same TDP leaders who are talking about financial management, he said.
The previous government has left the state finances high and dry with total dues to DISCOMs to a tune of Rs 14,857 cores and has agreed PPAs with companies with terms heavily loaded in favour of the power companies.
It had the audacity to sign 36 PPAs in a space of 45 days and the agreement period was a whopping 25 years knowing fully well the power prices would be falling, he said.
