'State will abide by Plan panel's guidelines on borrowings'

Blaming the previous government for the existing fiscal position of the state, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Tuesday said that his government will try to see that the expenditure on various fronts is by and large met by its own revenues.

Replying to the three-day debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address to the state legislative Assembly, Rajasekhara Reddy said that his government will follow the advise of both the Government of India and the Planning Commission on future borrowings.

"Taking into consideration the assets and liabilities position along with the existing debts of Andhra Pradesh, the Planning Commission has advised that the external borrowings by the state government in a year should not exceed the Rs 7,000-crore limit. Even though the higher expenditure envisaged in the annual Budget is mostly on account of capital outlay on irrigation sector, my government will abide by the above advise," he said in the Assembly.

The state's revenue deficit and debt stock grew at a phenomenal level only because the previous governments did not heed the advise of the Planning Commission, he maintained.

Earlier in the day, the Assembly speaker suspended 28 members of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from the House for stalling the Assembly proceedings excluding the leader of the opposition, N Chandrababu Naidu.

He later staged a walk out from the House in protest against the suspension of his party members and accused the speaker and the treasury benches of tyranny in the Assembly.

The trouble began with the main opposition insisting the speaker to take up the discussion on the killing of Paritala Ravindra and on the recent political murders in the state by postponing the scheduled agenda, which include the reply of the chief minister to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.

Opposition legislators went on with their protest even as speaker K R Suresh Reddy assured the House that the discussion on the said subject would be taken up as soon as the question hour is over. Suspended legislators led by Chandrababu Naidu have staged a dharna in the Assembly premises.