Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will contest the claims of the finance department officials that Telangana will have a “revenue surplus” budget, while Andhra Pradesh will begin with a “deficit budget” this year, when he meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday. Mr Rao firmly believes that the budget figures are unscientific and it is not fair to grant “special status” only to AP.

To prove his point, the Chief Minister has gathered data which shows that the revenue surplus of nearly Rs 7,500 crore calculated by then government officials was only on paper. It had not taken into account the debts and arrears that have accumulated to fund various projects which the TRS government will have to clear. Mr Rao will seek “special status” for Telangana from Mr Modi in the lines of AP based on the revised budget figures.

During bifurcation of the united state budget, officials had claimed that the T-state would have a revenue income of Rs 50,759 crore and expenditures of Rs 43,241 crore for this fiscal year, which would result in a revenue surplus of Rs 7,518 crore. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao will bring to the notice of the PM that this year, state needs to spend nearly Rs 4,300 crore towards scholarships and incentives to industries, Rs 15,000 crore to waive-off farm loans, Rs 2,500 crore for enhanced pensions and Rs 20,000 crore for the ongoing Jalayagnam project.