Andhra govt misled council on records of borrowings: LoP

SEnior YSR united states congress company (YSRCP) leader and leader of oppositeness in the Andhra Pradesh legislative council Botsa Satyanarayana on midweek accused the tell government of misleading the state legislature by presenting an incomplete and inaccurate record on borrowings in the last two years.In a letter to the state governor S Abdul Nazeer, Satyanarayana said that the government understated borrowings made during FY2024-25 and 2025-26, and also omitted key components, in its reply to starred questions by three YSRCP MLCs.“As per the reply, the total borrowings for 2024-25 were ₹60,485 crore. However, the CAG audited Finance Accounts clearly show that the actual net liabilities are about ₹81,082 crore. This leaves a gap of more than ₹. 20,500 crore which is not justifiable,” he wrote.Borrowings under Ways and Means Advances from RBI were not included, claimed Satyanarayana, even though they are classified as internal debt in official records.“Similarly, net liabilities under public account such as deposits and reserve funds were also ignored, despite them being used to bridge the fiscal deficit. Adjustments related to GST compensation loans were reduced without valid justification,” he said.He added that when the fiscal deficit was over ₹81,000 crore, omissions such as these “create a false impression the government’s debt burden is lower than it actually is.”Botsa claimed further that the government’s claims of there being no off-budget borrowings in 2025-26 was incorrect. “The government-backed corporations like AP marketing federation (MARKFED) and AP civil supplies corporation have been allowed to raise loans with state guarantees. These entities depend entirely on government support and such borrowings clearly fall under off budget liabilities as per Government of India guidelines,” he wrote.He also highlighted inconsistency in the finance department’s approach. “When details were sought for borrowings from 2014-2024, both public debt and public account were included. But for 2024-25 and 2025-26, public account was excluded. This change in approach raises serious concerns,” he said.He requested the governor to intervene and ensure corrective action “The reply should be withdrawn and replaced with accurate figures that are consistent with CAG audited accounts. Responsibility must also be fixed for the discrepancies,” he said.State biodiversity corporation chairman and official spokesperson N Vijay Kumar said there was no misleading the House on market borrowings. “During 2024-25 financial year, it was the YSRCP which was in power for the first two months – April and May; and during these two months, the then- government resorted to borrowing of ₹27,205 crore,” he said.Addressing the claim on off-budget borrowings, Kumar said the present government had gone well within the limits permitted by the RBI. “State finance minister Payyavula Kesav clearly said in the House that the government would not utilise the off-budget borrowings taken by the corporations like MARKFED or Civil Supplies Corporation. It only stands guarantee to the loans; hence, they do not fall into the account of the state government,” he said.