'From Atma Nirbhar to Karza Nirbhar': Kamal Nath hits out at MP govt

Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, hitting out at Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on the economic front, said, the MP government has been facing a debt burden of Rs 92,500 crore in the past two years and it will increase to Rs 3.25 lakh crore in 2023.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, hitting out at Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on the economic front, said the MP government has been facing a debt burden of Rs 92,500 crore in the past two years and it will increase to Rs 3.25 lakh crore in 2023. Nath said the Shivraj government "didn't have an economic policy for the state".

"The debt situation in Madhya Pradesh is getting worse day by day and whatever hope of bringing the economy back on track was dashed in this year's Budget. The Shivraj government has failed on the economic front in the state. After the completion of the Budget Session, it became clear that instead of making Madhya Pradesh Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) the state is moving towards being Karza Nirbhar(debt-dependent) state."

President of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, Kamal Nath, analyzed the debt-ridden economy of the state, citing several examples. "During the change of government in Madhya Pradesh that was in 2020, Madhya Pradesh had a debt burden of Rs 1.80 lakh crore which went up to Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2021 and Rs 2.73 lakh crore in 2022. It is expected that the debt will increase to Rs 3.25 lakh crore," he said.

"The government took Rs 52,413 crores as loan in 2020-21. It makes amply clear that the Madhya Pradesh government for the past two years has been obtaining loans to the tune of Rs 3,900 crore every month," he said. He further said that data suggested that the Shivraj government in Madhya Pradesh paid 50 per cent of the loan amount as interest in 2021-22 and in 2022-23 the amount will shoot up to Rs 22,000 crore.

"The Madhya Pradesh government in the past six years (from 2016-17 to 2021-22) paid Rs 83,000 core as interest for the loans it took," he said. The Shivraj government. Nath said, should adopt "austerity measures and put less burden on the state's exchequer".

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