KCR won polls, but failed people: PC

■ Former finance minister says TS balance sheet showed `2.2 lakh cr debts

Former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram said that if Telangana state was a company it might have gone to insolvency, criticising the TRS for its alleged poor management. “We expected huge development in Telangana state, but were disappointed,” he said.

Mr Chidambaram told mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan that the TRS government had not created assets and the balance sheet showed debts of more than `2.2 lakh crore. TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has not delivered the best as Chief Minister, he said.

He said the December 7 election was “as important as the struggle for Independence.” He said the TRS and its leader had not stood up to or opposed the BJP.

“That stance puts them squarely in the column of the BJP. If the battle in the other four states is to defeat BJP, the battle in Telangana is to defeat the TRS which is a proxy of the BJP. The TRS has failed to fulfill the promises made during the previous elections,” Mr Chidambaram said,

Mr Chidambaram welcomed the move of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to form an alliance with all the like minded parties.

“We are supporting the efforts of Mr Chandrababu Naidu for working to bring all likeminded parties under one roof. Our aim is to save the democracy in the country by taking down the BJP from power.”

On other issues, he said the NDA government at the Centre lacked economical management skills. Responding to questions on the fall in the rupee value, Mr Chidambaram noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Sushma Swaraj had previously said that they would get the rupee value to `40 per dollar. “I don’t say unreal things. The rupee value depends on exports, on current account deficit and fiscal account deficit. The NDA government has failed in these three things.”

He said the coordination between the finance ministry and RBI was lacking. “There are no regular meetings between the finance minister and the RBI governor,” he alleged. “During my tenure as finance minister, I used to talk with the RBI governor once a week and meet him once a month. There are no meetings in the NDA government. Demonetisation and GST have derailed economic growth.”

We expected huge development in Telangana state, but were disappointed... We are supporting the efforts of Mr Chandrababu Naidu for working to bring all like-minded parties under one roof. Our aim is to save the democracy in the country by taking down the BJP from power.

— P. CHIDAMBARAM Former Union finance minister