Telangana polls: Congress calls out KTR on highest per capita income claim

Just ahead of the Telangana assembly elections on 30 November, the Congress on Monday hit out at BRS leader KT Rama Rao for “tom-tomming” that Telangana has the highest per capita income in the country, saying the high per capita income was only because of three districts, while more than 75 per cent of the state’s population lives in the other 30 districts.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said this is nothing but a betrayal of one of the main reasons for the formation of Telangana — balanced development of the state.

In a post on X, Ramesh said KTR has been “tom-tomming” that Telangana has the highest per capita income in the country. “What are the facts? According to the RBI, at CONSTANT prices which is the yardstick that matters, Karnataka and Haryana have higher per capita incomes than Telangana, while Tamil Nadu is at the same level with a much larger population base,” Ramesh said in his post.

The high per capita income in Telangana is only because of the three districts of Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Sangareddy, he said. More than 75 per cent of the population of Telangana lives in the other 30 districts, where the per capita income is lower than the state average, said the Congress Rajya Sabha MP.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao has been citing the welfare measures taken by the government and the economic parameters during the poll campaigning.

Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have been campaigning regularly in the state. The party has already announced several guarantees for the people of Telangana and is eyeing to dislodge the BRS in the 119-member assembly.

Polling for all assembly seats in Telangana will be held on 30 November and results will be declared on 3 December.