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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that performing, progressive States should not be penalised by the Centre and that it should respect cooperative federalism.
He was speaking at the State Finance Ministers’ conference at the AP Secretariat in Amaravati on Monday.
Curbs on borrowings
Naidu said the Centre had not been adhering to the constitutional norms and it was curtailing the borrowing powers of States by fixing FRBM in an irrational manner.
He said the 15th Finance Commission should not consider the 2011 population base, as it would hamper devolution to States and performing States would be hit hard. The terms of reference for the commission should be reconsidered, he added. V Narayana Swamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry, said the Centre was trying to dictate terms to States in violation of the federal structure. He said that in the allocation of funds, the Centre was contending that New Delhi and Puducherry were Union Territories and not States and at the same time it was imposing heavy taxes.
He said the Centre was not compensating the expenditure incurred by the State on welfare programmes. He alleged that the GST turned out to be a huge drain for Union Territories.
Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, said the NDA government had been violating the spirit of the Constitution.
GST burden
He stressed the need for exerting pressure on the Centre to protect the interests of States. He said that the Centre should consider New Delhi and Puducherry as special cases in terms of reference. TM Thomas Issac, Minister for Finance, Kerala, said the GST was a huge burden on States. He said the Centre should not take 2011 population as the base for devolution of funds. He said the just demands of Andhra Pradesh should be met by the Centre, as the State had been hit hard by bifurcation.
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra alleged that the “Centre is trying to dilute the spirit of federalism.” He stressed the need to fight for protecting the federal structure.
Manpreet Singh, Punjab Finance Minister, said the States were losing tax share because of GST.
Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu said AP would stand to lose to the extent of ₹8,000 crore or more because of the faulty terms of reference given to the 15th Finance Commission and they should be changed.
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