Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender and Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy today said that the Telangana government would go ahead with a legal fight against the Centre on the GST regime.
Addressing the media today, the ministers vowed to protect the interests of the people of the youngest state.
"We have time and again appealed to the GST Council with a booklet comprising 33 issues that will burden the state. The GST Council did not yield to our objections on several issues, and the state government is now being forced to move court," they clarified. "Since we have taken up various projects, schemes and public works at a cost of Rs 2.30 lakh crores, the 12% GST will burden us by Rs 20,000 crores," they lamented.
Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, irrigation projects, roads development works and others were going at a fast pace in the state, and the 12% GST regime would throw a spanner in the works, they said.
"We will take up the issue with the judiciary. The Centre and the GST Council have to react on the individual concerns of the various states. We had approved the GST Bill in the Assembly for the larger interests of the nation at a time when there was clarity needed on the taxes to be levied on various items and sectors. The opposition is making false accusations for mileage," they said.