Chinks in the TRS armour?

In the latest Budget session of the Telangana Assembly, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has enjoyed a free run in the absence of the principal Opposition party and its rival, the Congress. The Congress’s members were suspended for the entire session after their “unruly” behaviour during the Governor’s address to the joint session of the legislature.

Whatever criticism was levelled by the members of other parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was torn apart by the Chief Minister and TRS president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who took every opportunity to remind the Opposition to do its homework and grapple with the granularity of specific subjects before raising issues.

However, while everything had looked hunky dory for the Treasury Benches, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) appeared to spoil the party. Its report, tabled in the House on the last day of the session, found fault with certain policy initiatives of the State government that the ruling party had earlier touted in multiple fora.

Given that the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place a year from now and the TRS president is trying to forge a “People’s Front” at the national level, the CAG report seemed to have come at an inappropriate time for the ruling party.

While the TRS government boasts that Telangana is a rich State, the report pointed out that the State has overstated its revenue surplus due to “irregular accounting”. It also made it clear that it was not revenue surplus. In addition, it pointed out that the State must repay a debt of ₹56,388 crore within the next seven years. The CAG also found fault with the implementation of the State government’s flag-ship programme, Mission Kakatiya, and its much-acclaimed Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self-Certification System. In the information technology sector, the CAG said that land parcels offered by the Information Technology Electronics and Communications Department lacked basic amenities and no land allotments had taken place during the last five years.

These observations have come in handy for the Congress, which has all along accused the Chandrasekhar Rao government of resorting to indiscriminate borrowings.

The BJP, whose long-term strategy is to emerge as a potential rival to the TRS and Congress, has described the report as “slap in the face” of the government even though a Minister pointed out that the CAG had not raised corruption charges but cited only technical and procedural lapses.

Ever since the emergence of Telangana as a State in 2014, the Opposition has been ineffective in countering the hegemonic power of the ruling party. Now, the CAG appears to have unintentionally provided them with enough ammunition to corner the government.

Prashanth Chintala is The Hindu’s Resident Editor – Telangana