Posted: Post Date – 03:49 PM, Monday – October 31st 22
Hyderabad: On Monday, Finance Minister T Harish Rao dismissed allegations of GST on textiles by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, saying that when the Centre was raised in 2017, the Telangana government had called on the federal government to exclude handloom products Outside of the GST. He published the submission to the GST committee by then Finance Minister Etala Rajender, who is now the BJP MLA.
“As trade union minister, Kishan Reddy should check his facts before making such remarks,” he said, demanding an unconditional apology from the BJP leader for spreading false propaganda against the state government against opponents Loom products are subject to a 5% GST.
In a point-by-point rebuttal to the union minister’s allegations, Harish Rao on Monday accused the federal government of proposing an additional 0.5% GSDP borrowing under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) to implement electricity reforms. In June last year, he released a newsletter from the union Treasury Department recommending states remove electricity subsidies and limit electricity use by installing new meters.
“The Modi government has offered to allow an additional Rs 6,000 crore a year, or a total of Rs 3,000 crore, to carry out its order. But Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao rejected the proposal as it harmed the interests of more than 6.5 million farmers in the state ,”He says. He dared to let Kishan Reddy prove him wrong, securing a loan approval of Rs 12,000 crore in the past two years.
The finance minister also refuted Kishan Reddy’s claim that the centre provided Rs 800 crore for fluoride removal. He pointed out that although NITI Aayog proposed an allocation of Rs 19,200 crore and the 15th Finance Committee also recommended an allocation of Rs 2,350 crore, the centre has not released any funds for Mission Bhagiratha. Although the Telangana government has spent Rs 36,000 crore to provide tap connections to 100% of households in the state, the federal government has not released 50% of the funds as promised under the Har Ghar ko Jal scheme.
He noted that the center has yet to resolve the water dispute and finalize the Krishna River water allocation. No progress has been made so far, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge during the 2014 election campaign to complete the Palamrurangaredi boosting irrigation scheme. “Kishan Reddy should address these issues first and then seek the vote of the people of Munugode,” he said.
Harish Rao also mocked the BJP leader for questioning TRS (now BRS) for accepting leaders of other parties. His aim is for the BJP to facilitate the entry of the top four TDP MPs and to keep the decision to disqualify YSRCP MP Raghuramakrishnam Raju in Andhra Pradesh pending two years later. He reminded that the BJP overthrew the governments of eight states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. He demanded to know why BJP state secretary Premender Reddy filed a petition in the High Court seeking to refer the MLA bribery case to the CBI if the BJP had not been involved.
The Finance Minister declared that the victory of the TRS in the Munugode vote was inevitable. He said the people will vote for Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as he drives out the fluoride demon forever. He said people were not ready for false propaganda by Kishan Reddy and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay.
