Tadepalli, March 1: Former Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath has issued a statement in response to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s remarks during his tour of Gangadhara Nellore in Chittoor district, where Naidu accused the previous YSRCP government of engaging in false propaganda regarding the state’s debt.
Rajendranath asserted that if the Chief Minister genuinely wishes for the public to know the truth about the state’s borrowings, he should release the debt details in Volume-6 (Budget in Brief) of the budget document, as has been the practice every year.
The TDP-led coalition government has consistently spread misinformation about the YSRCP regime since its inception, alleging that the state’s debt soared to Rs. 14 lakh crore during the YSRCP’s tenure, an outright falsehood.
During his Chittoor tour today, Chief Minister Naidu further claimed that the previous administration looted the state like “wild boars” and burdened the public with Rs. 10 lakh crore in debt, launching yet another attack on the YSRCP government. However, the reality contradicts these claims. In the first budget presented by the TDP coalition in November 2024, the state’s debt was officially recorded at Rs. 6.46 lakh crore. Of this, Rs. 3.10 lakh crore was the debt inherited when the YSRCP assumed power in 2019, meaning the debt accumulated during their term was far lower than the exaggerated figures cited by Naidu. These numbers were explicitly mentioned in the TDP’s own budget document.
Rajendranath emphasized that the YSRCP has repeatedly provided evidence-based clarifications on the debt issue. During Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure from 2014 to 2019, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of debt growth was 19.54%, while under the YSRCP government from 2019 to 2024, it was significantly lower at 15.61%. This demonstrates that the state’s debt grew at a much higher rate during Naidu’s administration.
Even during the YSRCP’s term, despite two years of revenue decline and increased expenditure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the debt growth remained relatively contained—a fact substantiated by statistics. However, Naidu has never responded to these facts, likely because they expose the truth, Rajendranath noted. He questioned how Naidu could unjustly claim that the YSRCP imposed a ₹10 lakh crore debt burden when the TDP’s own budget contradicts this narrative.
Moreover, in this year’s budget, the TDP government deviated from the long-standing tradition of disclosing debt details in Volume-6 (Budget in Brief), a practice followed for decades.
By withholding these figures, the government has avoided transparency, raising questions about its intentions. Rajendranath argued that releasing these details would reveal the actual debt incurred under each administration, dismantling the TDP’s false propaganda. He accused the coalition of deliberately concealing this information to continue blaming the YSRCP and mislead the public, though he added that the truth would eventually emerge through the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.
Rajendranath condemned Naidu’s rhetoric—claiming the state was plundered like “wild boars” and burdened with Rs. 10 lakh crore in debt—as unbecoming of a responsible public officeholder.
He urged the Chief Minister to immediately cease this misinformation campaign, which he described as an attempt to divert attention from the TDP’s own failures. If Naidu truly seeks to inform the public, Rajendranath demanded that the government publish the debt details in Volume-6 (Budget in Brief) as per established tradition, ensuring all facts are laid bare for scrutiny. Only then, he stated, will the truth be evident to all.
CM Naidu’s remarks violate constitution
