Congress spreading falsehoods on State debt to hide failures, scams: Harish Rao

Former minister T Harish Rao on Saturday accused the Congress government of spreading “false propaganda” on Telangana’s debt burden to divert public attention from its governance failures, unfulfilled promises and alleged corruption.

Addressing a press conference, Harish Rao alleged that the Revanth Reddy government had introduced a practice of paying hefty brokerage commissions while raising loans through government corporations.

He claimed that the government was mobilising loans by mortgaging valuable public lands and paying hundreds of crores as brokerage to intermediaries.

Citing replies furnished in the Assembly, Harish Rao said the government had paid Rs.170 crore as brokerage for raising Rs.10,000 crore by mortgaging lands belonging to the Telangana Government Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC). He further alleged that the government was planning to raise another Rs.20,000 crore by mortgaging Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) lands.

“If Rs. 170 crore is paid as brokerage for every Rs. 10,000 crore



borrowed, the brokerage for Rs. 30,000 crore alone would exceed Rs. 510 crore. If borrowings worth Rs.70,000 crore are raised through corporations and utilities, brokerage payments could cross Rs. 1,700 crore,” he claimed.

“Is this brokerage or bribery? The government must answer,” Harish Rao demanded, alleging that no other State government had resorted to paying such high commissions merely to raise loans.

Harish Rao pointed out that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had informed the Assembly on March 18 that the Congress government had accumulated borrowings of Rs.3.47 lakh crore.

However, he said Bhatti Vikramarka later stated that the Congress government had borrowed only Rs. 1.77 lakh crore.

“If the Chief Minister’s figures are correct, how did the borrowings suddenly reduce within four months? Which figure should the people believe?” he asked.

According to publicly available financial data up to June 30, 2026, Harish Rao claimed that the Congress government had raised nearly Rs.4.5 lakh crore within 31 months.