Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has accused the Narendra Modi government of conspiring to weaken the states financially while “squandering millions of crores of rupees due to them.”
Speaking on the occasion of Telangana's eighth formation day, KCR charged the BJP led central government of targeting his state “maintaining financial discipline and prudence.”
“The present central government is shifting taxes in the form of cess to evade the constitutionally due share of the states from the taxes levied by the centre,” KCR said, continuing his tirade of the last few months against the Modi led administration.
Chief Minister pointed out that the centre is mandating the states to abide by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) act provisions, but “is indebted to itself for not complying with any rules.”
The chief minister's comments come at a time when the state is reportedly facing a resource crunch to meet the expenditure on various schemes and salaries. The centre's regulations are purportedly disallowing the TRS government from raising funds.
“The Centre's attitude has become a stumbling block for states like Telangana, which maintains financial discipline by managing loans and investment expenditure within the FRBM limits. I demand the centre to reconsider and immediately lift the economic sanctions imposed on the states and stop any further violation of the rights of the states,” the CM said on Thursday.
KCR alleged that the Centre’s attitude towards his state, “which is working with financial discipline and prudence and well within the FRBM limits, is creating a major problem.”
The TRS chief said that he would not implement the “anti-farmer power reforms as long as he is alive” even as Telangana is said to be losing Rs 5000 crore annually for refusing to install meters at the farmers' motor wells and collect the power charges.
KCR also dwelled over the communal differences cropping in various parts of the country.
“When the countries, which attained freedom along with us, are becoming superpowers, we are still fighting over caste and religious differences. We are in a dangerous situation today, beseeched by politics of hate. If these destructive elements are allowed to have their say, the country's unity will suffer,” KCR said.
“If the same violence continues there will not be any international investment. It will prove detrimental to the NRIs living abroad. This hatred will take the country back hundreds of years.”