India News | TRS Slams PM Modi's Comments on Culture of Freebies

Hyderabad, Aug 13 (PTI) Amid the ongoing debate on culture of freebies, ruling TRS working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday hit out at the Centre, saying the Narendra Modi-led government has ignored people's welfare and now started the debate on freebies to make the lives of common man "more miserable".

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The BJP government at the Centre has completely ignored the welfare of the people during its eight-year rule and burdened the life of the common man, Rama Rao said.

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"The Modi government has now started the debate on freebies to make the lives of common man more miserable," the state minister said in a release.

"The Modi government is imposing GST on essential items like milk and curd. The ever-increasing inflation has broken the back of the poor," said Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

During the eight years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule, poverty in the country has increased so much that India is now infamous for having more poor people than that of Nigeria, he claimed.

"Manya Modiji, You consider waiving the loan of the poor farmer a freebie. At the same time, you proactively waive off loans of your corporate friends," he said.

He added that PM Modi should say as to what is the take of the BJP on the welfare schemes to farmers, the poor and the weaker sections.

"The 14 Prime Ministers before Modi together were responsible for the country's debt of Rs 56 lakh crore whereas Modi's government alone borrowed more than Rs 80 lakh crore," he said.

Recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) issued a severe warning that 37 per cent of the country's annual income is being spent on paying interest for the money borrowed by the Central government, he claimed.

According to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, the Central government should not borrow more than 40 per cent of the GDP, but the Modi government has already incurred 54 per cent of its debt, the CAG reported.

The CAG has warned that if the situation continues like this, there is a risk of "collapse of the country's economy", Rama Rao said.

India is a "welfare state" as written in the country's Constitution, he added.

Highlighting some of the welfare schemes of the TRS government like free electricity, life insurance and investment support for farmers, the minister asked whether PM Modi is against them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)