From correspondents in Chhattisgarh, India, 11:30 PM IST

Mineral rich Chhattisgarh state owes a debt of Rs.93.79 billion since it was carved out Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, Chief Minister Raman Singh told the state assembly Wednesday.

'Chhattisgarh has received loans worth Rs.4,339 crore (Rs.43.39 billion) during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that came to power in December 2003 while it received Rs.5,040 crore in loans during the previous Congress regime,' Singh said.

Replying to a debate over the supplementary budget, he rejected opposition Congress legislators' charges that the BJP government had pushed the state into a debt trap.

He said the state has witnessed all-round development during the BJP rule and announced to set up two new universities in the extreme backward tribal dominated regions of- Surguja in the north of the state and in insurgency-hit Bastar based in the south.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)