Former Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy has alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s overt efforts to get close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reflects his fear of Central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the wrongdoings in the projects like Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya.
Speaking at a press conference here, Mr. Reddy said perhaps the Chief Minister knew that the ED was monitoring and that was why he was afraid to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government.
Mr. Reddy ridiculed the government on its tall claims on the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme, saying it was 90% done by the Congress government while the present government was not able to finish the remaining 10%. He said KCR was not even an MLA when the project was conceived. To conceal his failures, the Chief Minister was accusing the Congress of moving the courts against the projects. “I can’t speak at the level the Chief Minister speaks,” he said.
Mr. Reddy, who is the former Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, favoured bringing petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He said the Government could decide on the prices depending on the international crude oil prices but people at least would know what tax they were paying for petroleum products. At the same time, he said, the State government should reduce their tax as was demanded by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. As per the international crude oil price petrol prices that were hovering around $ 50 to $ 54, the petrol prices should be around ₹ 40 only.
He said revenue losses to the government due to economic slowdown and demonetisation were being plugged with high revenues on petrol. A boon to the Central government had turned into a curse for the common man, he said, adding that the Government had collected about ₹ 6 lakh crore in the last three years on petrol and diesel taxes.
The Congress leader also demanded that Mr. Narendra Modi respond on the Taj Mahal controversy created by his party’s MLA. He said religion and culture were different and reminded how an Islamic country like Egypt proudly showcases its 4,000-year-old pyramids though Islam came into being just 1400 years ago.
Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world and it was ridiculous that the BJP looks at it from a religious angle. He reminded how former US President Bill Clinton described the world as those who have seen Taj Mahal and those who have not seen.
