There was a face-off between opposition Council leader Botsa Satyanarayana and Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav in the Legislative Council on Friday. The video of their give and take has become viral on social media.
In the clipping, Botsa is seen alleging that the revenue of the state had come down as per the latest CAG report (2024-25). He said that as per the Central reports, Andhra Pradesh stood in 22nd position in the country in terms of revenue.
Not one to be bogged down by Botsa, Finance Minister Payyavula gave two examples to show that all was well. Payyavula said that the excise revenue was up by 24% and mining revenue was up by 33%.
Payyavula pointed out that there was no increase in mining activity, neither did the numbers of drinkers increase. The Finance Minister took a jibe at YSRCP saying that the money went into government exchequer and was not diverted like earlier times. Then the Minister asked for a copy of the CAG report to clarify things further.
When Botsa passed on the copy, Payyavula called it ‘so called CAG report’ and said that YSRCP was putting pressure on the Sakshi reporters to dish out stories against the government. In the process, such reports were generated. Not stopping there, Payyavula said that they had given a link to CAG and correct information can be downloaded from there.
The Finance Minister asked Botsa and his team to take time, sit down, read information and then come for a discussion.
With all proceedings on camera, the YSRCP lost face. Many netizens are saying that Payyavula hit the bull’s eye by taking the examples of excise and mining departments as many YSRCP leaders are involved in liquor and mining scams.
