YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday feared a heavy dose of taxation by the State government in the annual budget for 2015-16. Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy broke his two-day ‘Rythu Deeksha’ by accepting a glass of lemon juice from farmers here.
The YSRC president said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s frequent moves to present a ‘bleak picture’ on the State’s finances was a clear indication for the alleged impending tax burden on people. “Mr. Naidu is just trying to prepare the minds of people for heavy taxation as is his usual wont”, Mr. Reddy said while drawing public attention to his similar strategy during his previous stint as the Chief Minister in 1996.
His government at that time had increased taxes by Rs 2,000 crore in a single dose soon after he took over as Chief Minister from late N.T. Rama Rao by blaming the poor financial position due to prohibition in force. He also increased power charges and water cess in a similar way, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said.
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He accused the Chief Minister of trying to run away from his twin poll promises – waiver of loans for farmers and SHG women – and diluting the other welfare programmes.
In her hard-hitting speech, actor and YSRC MLA Roja said poor financial condition in the State failed to deter the Chief Minister from his ‘lavish’ style of functioning. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was wasting huge amounts of public money with his highly expensive air travels, she alleged. In addition, his Council of Ministers were proving to be no inferior to their leader in wasting money by undertaking expensive holiday trips, she criticised.
She described Mr. Naidu organising a meditation camp for his Ministers and bureaucrats by Jaggi Vasudev by spending around Rs 2 crore as a ‘sheer waste’ of public money.
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Deeksha flayed
Our Hyderabad Correspondent adds:Women Empowerment and Child Welfare Minister Peethala Sujatha flayed YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for undertaking a two-day fast on farmers’ issues and accused him of enacting a drama to ensure that MLAs did not leave his party.