TDP govt’s debt claims under YSRCP debunked in Assembly

The TDP-led NDA government found itself caught between a rock and a hard place as it revealed the actual debt of the State under the previous YSRCP regime in the Assembly.

In a written response to a query raised by YSRCP MLAs Buchepalli Siva Prasad Reddy, Tatiparthi Chandrasekhar, Akepati Amarnath, and Matsyarasa Visveswara Raju, Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav disclosed that the State’s debt stood at ₹5,19,192 crore when the previous YSRCP government stepped down.

This revelation has exposed the false claims made by the ruling coalition. TDP leaders had been asserting that the Jagan government accumulated a debt of ₹14 lakh crore. They went to the extent of stating that Andhra Pradesh would witness a financial crisis similar to that of Sri Lanka due to the ‘piling debts’.

Soon after coming to power, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had tabled a white paper, stating that the total debt was ₹12.93 lakh crore. Similarly, in the Governor’s speech, the NDA government had claimed that the debt under the YSRCP government was ₹10 lakh crore. The Budget document for the financial year 2025-26 mentioned that total debts of the State were `6,46,531 crore.

However, according to official data released in the Assembly, public debt under the Jagan government stood at ₹2,34,225 crore. The total debt incurred by the previous YSRCP government amounted to ₹3,39,580 crore. The total debt of the State was ₹5,19,192 crore when the YSRCP government stepped down.