Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao wants to make a splash on the national stage as a pakka populist. The Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief on Wednesday made costly promises that he wants to fulfill if his coalition comes to power in 2024 at the Centre. The promises were made in the presence of the chief ministers of three other States: Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Bhagwant Mann of Punjab and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala.

Netizens are asking him where the money for his promises is going to come from. Free power to all farmers, Rythu Bandhu across India, and a Dalit Bandhu scheme for all Dalit families in the country are among his poll promises.

Just the free power promise is going to cost Rs 1.45 lakh crore per year. Since the one making the promise is saying it, it must be an underestimate. The actual figure will be much, much higher. Let's not even talk about the costs that manifest in the form of unintended consequences. In Tamil Nadu, rich farmers benefited more from the free power scheme than small farmers in recent times. It's just one example of how freebies can be misused by the well-to-do.

As for Dalit Bandhu, it is a grossly unnecessary scheme. Experts have said that no country anywhere in the world gives a large lump sum to families in the name of progress. The finances of Telangana, thanks to Hyderabad, might make the scheme possible for the time being. But a similar scheme on a national level is going to be dead on arrival.