'Non-performing Alliance': KTR hits back at PM Modi for asking states to reduce VAT
TRS working president KT Rama Rao took the battle to the centre and blamed them for the fuel price hike.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 28 April 2022 5:01 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Prime Minister's call for reducing VAT on fuel price issue has snowballed into a major controversy. TRS working president KT Rama Rao took the battle to the centre and blamed them for the fuel price hike.
"Fuel prices have shot up because of NPA Central govt. Name-calling states for not reducing VAT even though we never increased it; is this the co-operative federalism you're talking about @narendramodi Ji?," tweeted KTR dubbing National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as Non-Performing Alliance (NPA).
"#Telangana hasn't increased VAT on fuel since 2014 & rounded off only once. We don't get 41% of our rightful share because of the Cess imposed by your govt. In the form of Cess, you are looting 11.4% from the state & we are getting only 29.6% for FY23. Please scrap Cess so we can give Petrol at ā¹70 & Diesel at ā¹60 all over India. One Nation - One Price?," tweeted KTR.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol in Telangana is 35.2 percent while it is 27 percent on diesel. However, the state government has rejected demands to reduce VAT saying it did not hike the tax in the last seven years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that fuel prices were too high in some states ruled by BJP rivals and they were not passing on the benefits of the Centre's excise duty cut to the people. "These States should bring in immediate remedial measures to stop this injustice," Mr. Modi said during an interaction with Chief Ministers to discuss the emerging COVIDĀ19 situation.
"This harms the neighboring States also. States like Karnataka and Gujarat undertook the tax reduction for the welfare of the people despite revenue loss, while their neighboring States earned revenue by not reducing tax," he said.
The Prime Minister said that last November a request was made to reduce VAT, but many States, most of which are nonĀBJPĀruled ones like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Jharkhand, did not do so for some reason.
