 "Jairam Ramesh questions BRS' KT Rama Rao on state's per capita income")
The Congress on Monday slammed Telangana Minister and leader of the ruling party-BRS KT Rama Rao, alleging that the leader has been "tom-tomming" about the state's per capita income and said that 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, in a post on X, termed these claims made by KTR a betrayal of one of the main reasons for the formation of Telangana -- balanced development of the State.
"KTR has been tom-tomming that Telangana has the highest per capita income in the country. What are the facts? 1. 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," Jairam Ramesh said, adding that the high per capita income in Telangana is only because of the three districts of Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Sangareddy.
"More than 75pc of the population of Telangana lives in the other 30 districts, where the per capita income is lower than the state average. This is nothing but a betrayal of one of the main reasons for the formation of Telangana -- balanced development of the state," he added.
During this election campaign, KT Rama Rao has been claiming that Telangana is the best-performing state in India and ranks number one in terms of per capita income under the vision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
The state is set to go to the polls on November 30.
The state is poised for a three-cornered contest between the ruling BRS, which is bidding to return to the hustings for a third straight term, the Congress, and a resurgent BJP.
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In the last Assembly elections in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share.
The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats, while the BJP drew a blank.