GST Row: BJP Amused By KCR Threat To Go To SC

Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao today pooh-poohed Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's statements on the GST's impact on the state government's irrigation projects.

"As a member of the GST Council, the TRS government supported the GST Bill and its tax brackets at several GST Council meetings. The party and government passed and ratified the GST Bill in the state legislature, and supported it in both Houses of Parliament. The Telangana Finance Minister is a permanent representative in and member of the GST Council. How can KCR now blame the Centre for the GST tax rates when all the decisions on GST were collectively taken with voting rights to every state in the country?" he asked.

Rao said that KCR's empty threat to go to court only highlighted his government's lack of fundamental knowledge on the issue. He further stated that a Chief Minister could not take up lobbying for lowering tax rates or increasing profit margins.

"BJP doesn't believe that there would be any loss to the Telangana exchequer due to the GST implementation in reference to ongoing projects. All the numbers being projected as loss to the state are purely fictitious calculations. The GST Council has already lowered the GST rate on irrigation contracts from 18% to 12%, and addressed this issue which several states raised in the first GST Council meeting after GST was enacted," the BJP leader said.

Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, too, deplored the remarks of KCR over GST on irrigation projects. He said that the decision of 12% GST on irrigation projects was not a unilateral decision and that the Union government had taken the decision only after several round of talks with all states.

"The GST came into existence only after consultations with state governments," he said. "It is not proper on the part of the Chief Minister to move the Supreme Court over GST," Dattatraya said. He however promised that he would talk to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitly in this regard since the issue was related to the irrigation projects which helped the farmers.