HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday dared Telangana BJP president and Union minister G. Kishan Reddy to debate the unkept promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last one decade, and those fulfilled by the Congress government in a record time of one year. Reacting to the BJP’s chargesheet on alleged failures of the Congress in its one-year rule, the Chief Minister took potshots at the BJP and the BRS for spreading false information on farm loan waiver, an unprecedented fete achieved by the state government. “They are like twin demons Mareechudu and Subahu who deceived humans with their false appearances and moves,” he said. Refuting allegations of opening the floodgates for liquor to fill the state’s coffers, Revanth Reddy said he would take a team of journalists to show how there was rampant sale of liquor in Gujarat despite prohibition. “Anyway, how is Kishan Reddy, a Gujarati ghulam, concerned about Telangana,” Revanth Reddy quipped. Revanth Reddy said with the release of Rs 2,742 crore on Saturday, the Congress government had successfully completed waiver of loans of up to Rs 2 lakh availed by each farmer family. In the previous phases, the government had waived Rs 17,869 crore benefiting 22 lakh farmer families. “This is against Rs 11,909 crore waived by the BRS government just before 2023 polls by selling Outer Ring Road for a meagre Rs 7,000 crore,” the Chief Minister said. Due to the delay in the release of amount, Rs 8,578 crore went towards interest component while the net benefit was just Rs 3,331 crore. The Congress, on the other hand, made a poll promise of waiving loans up to Rs 2 lakh for each farmer family between December 12, 2018, when then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was sworn in for the second term, and the day the Congress government was constituted on December 9, 2023. He clarified that initial estimates of loans to be waived was put at Rs 30,000 crore-plus by the banks which included dues between 2014 and 2018 besides long-term loans taken for non-farm purposes by farmers. “Every farmer who has availed the waiver is satisfied and knows what our government did for him,” Revanth Reddy said.
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