Lashing out at the Congress Government during the Budget debate in the Assembly, BRS MLA Harish Rao accused the Revanth admin of presenting an unrealistic, deceptive budget and failing to fulfil its key electoral promises mentioned in the so called ‘six guarantees.’
Accusing the government of hiding behind the “global slowdown” narrative, Harish reeled out data saying that Telangana’s GST growth dropped to 5.63%, compared to the national average of 10%.
“Karnataka recorded 10.72%, Maharashtra 12.18%.
If there’s no slowdown in other states, why only here?” he asked.
He claimed the stamps and registration revenue missed its targets by nearly Rs 4,000 crore, while vehicle sales growth turned negative for the first time. “Your anti-people policies, HYDRA demolitions, real estate scare-mongering, and revenue-centric governance have choked the economy,” he said.
He termed the 2025-26 budget “as most disappointing and disastrous” and said that it was built entirely on “unrealistic revenue assumptions and failed priorities.”
Harish began his fiery speech by congratulating Speaker Bhatti Vikramarka for presenting three budgets, including the vote-on-account, and also extended compliments to K. Ramakrishna Rao for crafting a record 14 budgets. However, he quickly moved into an intense critique tearing apart the government’s previous and current budget claims.
“Last year they called it a realistic budget. Now, the CM himself admits it fell short by Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore. If that’s not proof of faulty estimations, what is?” he asked.
Slamming the Congress’ flagship promises, Harish said not a single guarantee had been honoured.
“Where is the Rs 2,500 Mahalakshmi pension? What happened to the Rs 4,000 monthly pension promise? The Rs 15,000 Rythu Bharosa became Rs 12,000, and even that hasn’t reached half the farmers,” he said.
He questioned the fate of free scooties for girls scheme, the Rs 5 lakh education cards, 2 lakh jobs a year, unemployment dole, gold with Kalyana Lakshmi and all-crop bonuses. “These are not just broken promises. These are betrayals,” he said.
Harish accused the government of letting lakhs of acres go dry by failing to release water on time and not paying O&M bills. “This is not a natural drought but a Congress made drought,” he thundered, citing how the delay in starting motors at the Devadula Project resulted in a losing crops worth Rs 600 crore in Warangal.
Rythu Bandhu, he said, had been reduced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 12,000, and Rythu Bima has been sidelined. He said that tenant and farm labour welfare were ignored, and the much-hyped loan waiver remained a “cruel joke,” with several farmers left high and dry despite paying additional instalments hoping for waiver eligibility.
He accused the government of trying to cover up its failure by mortgaging public assets and blaming past governments.
“You’ve already pledged TGIIC lands, and is planning to pledge HMDA, GHMC, HMWSSB assets for Rs 20,000 crore each. Housing Board land sales have begun,” he said.
“Didn’t Revanth once say public lands are ancestral wealth not meant for sale?” he asked. “Now, he’s doing the opposite.”
Calling the condition of Gurukul institutions alarming, Harish said 83 students dying in 15 months is a horrifying statistic. “Admissions are dropping, test applications have fallen. Children are eating contaminated food and dying. Who is accountable?” he asked.
He accused the government of cutting funds for social welfare hostels, not releasing fee reimbursement and killing the vibrancy built over a decade.
Mocking the Congress’ job promise, Harish said, “They promised 2 lakh jobs a year, but issued zero fresh notifications. They inaugurated jobs recruited under our government and claimed credit. Even Group-1, TSPSC calendar is yet to be implemented.”
He defended the BRS track record, claiming over 1.62 lakh government jobs were filled during its tenure with 95% local reservation.
Harish tore apart the Congress budget estimates, claiming GST, stamp duty, grant-in-aid and non-tax revenues were all overstated by thousands of crores. “This budget is a castle built on lies, inflated projections and empty promises,” he said.
He added that while the Congress claims BRS borrowed Rs 6.5 lakh crore, data from Form D-5 and the White Paper shows total loans were just Rs 4.22 lakh crore, including risk-weighted guarantees.
Harish lamented the collapse of local bodies with no monthly grants and said village secretaries are now forced to take loans to run basic services. “From winning 19 national awards under BRS, Telangana got just one this year,” he pointed out.
Concluding, Harish said the Revanth Government had turned the promised “shop of love” into a “den of repression.”
He said public discontent was mounting and the dream of “Indiramma Rajyam” had become a nightmare of “emergency-style governance.” He mocked the government for missing every benchmark it set.
“This budget is not a vision document. It’s a confession of failure,” he said, demanding an apology from the government to farmers, women, the youth and the poor.
