Harish slams Kishan, Bandi over power reforms, GST on handlooms

HYDERABAD: TRS senior leader and finance minister T.Harish Rao slammed Union minister G. Kishan Reddy and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar for "spreading lies" about the installation of meters for agricultural pumpsets and the imposition of GST on handlooms.

Speaking to the media at Telangana Bhavan here on Monday, Harish Rao strongly condemned Kishan Reddy's reported statement that the TS government had agreed to the imposition of GST on handlooms in the GST Council meeting held earlier this year.

On the BJP leaders' claims that the Centre's power reforms do not mandate the installation of meters for agricultural pumpsets, Harish Rao released letters from the Centre asking the state government. He also showed documents that the state government had submitted the Centre opposing the imposition of GST on handlooms.

He said former finance minister Etala Rajender, now a BJP MLA, had personally submitted the documents to the Centre in 2017.

"As a responsible Union minister, Kishan Reddy should check his facts before making such comments," Harish Rao said, demanding an unconditional apology from the BJP leaders for spreading “false propaganda.”

He stated that the Centre had offered an additional 0.5 per cent FRMB limit relaxation for Telangana to raise loans if the state implemented power reforms and installed motors on pump sets. The minister also released a communication from the Union finance ministry in June last year, advising states to withdraw power subsidies and impose restrictions on power consumption through installation of new electricity meters.

"The BJP government at the Centre offered to allow an additional borrowing of `6,000 crore per annum which amounts to `30,000 crore for five years. But our CM rejected the proposal as it was detrimental to the interests of over 65 lakh farmers in the state," he said.

Harish Rao also mocked at the BJP leaders for questioning the TRS for admitting leaders from other political parties, and questioned why the BJP facilitated the joining of four TD MPs while keeping its decision pending for two years on disqualification of YSRC Lok Sabha member Y. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju pending. He questioned why, if the BJP was not involved, BJP state general secretary Premender Reddy filed a petition in the High Court seeking to transfer the TRS MLAs' poaching case to the CBI.