Push for vote in 42nd GST meet: Stalin tells EPS

Stating that the failure of the EPS regime to get Constitutionally guaranteed funds from the Centre was detrimental to the financial autonomy of the state, Stalin said the AIADMK regime should make constructive efforts to push for a vote and win the support of other states in Monday’s GST council meet regarding GST compensation funds and Centre’s violation of the guarantee to states.

Referring to the reported assessment of the CAG that the Centre had diverted GST compensation funds, the DMK president on Sunday recalled a similar vote successfully pushed by Kerala in the 38th GST council meeting for uniform tax for lottery and said that minister D Jayakumar who attends the meeting has not understood the conduct of such votes in the GST council and the chief minister Palaniswami has no time to think about it either.

Asserting that the Centre’s advice to states to borrow from the market for want of GST compensation funds from the union would affect the financial autonomy of states, Stalin said the CM, in his letter to the PM after the 41st GST council meet in August last, should have raised the voting issue then and the AIADMK regime had lost an opportunity to mobilise other states for a vote even in the previous council meeting.

Advising the CM to realize that the Centre would not sanction funds on receipt of letters, Stalin said the AIADMK regime should push for a vote and make constructive efforts to win the support of other states for the vote against the Centre for not paying GST compensation funds and violating its sovereign guarantee to states.