BJP sharpens attack on TRS

State BJP chief spokesperson K. Krishna Saagar Rao said TRS working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao’s statements on central funds to the state were “quite deceptive and politically motivated.”

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office in Hyderabad, on Friday, Mr Krishna Saagar Rao alleged that the upcoming GHMC elections were driving the false narrative against the BJP and the Centre.

He said Mr Rama Rao’s logic of expecting all tax collection by the state to be its own revenue was flawed and bereft of any understanding of the Centre-state financial relations and tax sharing provisions laid down by the Constitution.

The BJP leader advised Mr Rama Rao to “stop reading comics” and start reading the Constitution. Articles 268 to 293, Part 12 of the Constitution, outline the tax revenue sharing provisions and Mr Rama Rao should tutor himself on the same, Mr Krishna Saagar Rao said.

He demanded that the state provide accounts for `1,15,000 crore of devolution, grant-in-aid funds and another `1,25,000 crore funds given through loans and guarantees by the Centre to the state in the last six years.

Senior BJP leader and former MLA N.V.S.S. Prabhakar on Friday met Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi and thanked her for releasing more than `2 lakh crore in the last six years to Telangana state.

After the meeting, Mr Prabhkar told the media that the TRS government had not learned any lessons from other regional parties. The TRS was only intent on criticising the BJP but had got substantial releases from the Centre. He asked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao “to learn from other Chief Ministers and invite Union ministers for inaugurations and stop mudslinging at the Centre.”

Mr Prabhakar alleged that the local bodies were collecting various taxes from the public and it is the local government which is supporting the states in many ways. The Telangana state government failed to give its share in the taxes collected.