Southern states' FMs to meet

Hyderabad: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted on Friday, calling the CMs of the southern states to put up a united fight against the NDA government’s discrimination in the sanction of funds. 

Telangana State CM Chandrasekhar Rao felt that the tweet vindicated his claim that Centre is deincentivising states such as Telangana, which are performing well.

Thomas Isaac, the finance minister of Kerala, has called for a meeting of the finance ministers of the southern states on April 10 to discuss the Centre’s prioritisation of northern states, in terms of fund allocation.

Mr Rao is learnt to have directed finance minister Etela Rajender to attend the meeting and explain how the Centre is discriminating TS, despite the state playing a major role in the nation-building process by contributing major funds earned by the Centre in the form of taxes.

Mr Rao first made this claim last May, when BJP national president Amit Shah, during his Nalgonda tour, said that the Centre was allocating greater funds to TS, but the TS government was not utilising those funds effectively. Mr Rao condemned Mr Shah’s remarks and produced data to prove that TS received less than half of the amount that it paid the Centre in form of taxes. 

“It is the Centre which survives on Telangana. We pay Rs 50,000 crore to the Centre every year, and we get only Rs 24,000 crore in return,” he said. 

With CM Siddaramaiah making similar claims, Mr Rao has started discussing the future course of action with senior party leaders. He is likely to consult with the chief ministers of the southern states after the conclusion of the Assembly session, to put pressure on the Centre against the terms of reference for the 15th Finance Commission, according to which funds will be granted on the basis of the 2011 census instead of the 1972 census.

Mr Rao wants the Centre to grant funds on the basis of states’ performance in various sectors.

The 15th Finance Commission is scheduled to visit Telangana in April/May to seek reports on the performance of various sectors and make recommendations regarding tax devolution which will be applicable from 2020 to 2025.

Mr Rao wants to present a strong case before the Commission against using the 2011 census as its reference, as Telangana is likely to suffer due to low population growth despite its exceptional performance in key sectors.