Amaravati: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday accused the TDP-led NDA government of lacking fiscal discipline and exceeding 50 per cent of the borrowings incurred by the previous YSRCP regime in just 13 months.
Reddy said that the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) concluded the second tranche of its NCD (bond) issuance at a coupon rate of 9.3 per cent on June 25 to raise Rs 5,526 crore, taking the aggregate value of the issuance to Rs 9,000 crore.
“With this NCD issuance, the total budget and off-budget borrowings availed and secured in these 13 months by the TDP alliance government exceeded 50 per cent of what was borrowed by the previous government over 5 years,” said Reddy in a post on ‘X’.
Alleging that the N Chandrababu Naidu-led government disregards the constitutional framework, the YSRCP supremo said MDC went for the second tranche of its NCD issuance despite this matter being admitted in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and notices served over it.
“Further, it is quite apparent that the proceeds of the issuance would be utilised for financing government revenue expenditure,” he said.
“With total disregard to the constitutional provisions and in an unprecedented manner,” Reddy alleged that the NDA alliance government granted private parties access to the consolidated fund of the state through the RBI direct debit mandate.
Owing to this arrangement, the opposition leader claimed that private parties “can access the state exchequer and withdraw funds without any requirement of any action from the state government officials.”
According to Reddy, this is a blatant violation of Articles 203, 204, and 293 of the Constitution of India.
Further, he said the southern state has also mortgaged mineral wealth, which is government property, worth ₹1.91 lakh crore for the NCD issuances of aggregate value ₹9,000 crore as additional security, terming it “unheard of”.
“With such permission to access the state consolidated fund and mortgaging of government property of disproportionately huge value,” Reddy said one would imagine that these bonds are even more secure than the SDLs issued by the state government.
Further, he alleged that the MDC NCDs were issued at a coupon rate as high as 9.3 per cent, which is “2.60 per cent higher than the prevailing SDL rate”.
Reddy alleged that due to the high interest rate, the additional yearly burden on MDC is to the tune of ₹235 crore and the term of NCDs is understood to be 10 years. “Can Naidu Garu answer as to who pocketed this?” asked Reddy.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate reaction from the TDP.
