GST is an experiment, will have to wait and see the results: CM

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao opined that having a uniform GST all over the country is an experiment and one has to wait and see the results of it.

“GST is an experiment. Many countries have brought in the GST. Due to some problems at the implementation level, some countries have withdrawn it. We have to wait and see what will be the result. There are divergent opinions on the GST slab system. There several requests made to the Centre, we have wait and see how the Centre reacts,” the Chief Minister said.

KCR said there was plenty of water available in Godavari and Krishna rivers, if they are utilised properly both the Telugu states will benefit the most. He recalled that the discrimination and injustices meted out to the Telangana region under the united AP State under the Andhra rulers; a movement for separate Telangana State had began. He said as he reiterated during the Telangana Statehood movement, the Telangana State is first on the development and growth index.

The Chief Minister was interacting with former Editor in Chief of the Hindu and now Chairman of Kasturi and Sons Limited N. Ram, who met the CM in Pragati Bhavan today and presented him with a copy of his book, “Why Scams are here to stay”. A discussion took place on the contemporary issues on Telangana Statehood movement and the way the new state is travelling. On this occasion, N. Ram had asked several questions to the CM including his opinion on the GST.

On the Telangana statehood issue, the Chief Minister gave a detailed answer. “In 1956, Andhra state was merged with the then Hyderabad State and Andhra Pradesh state was created. There was an opposition at that stage. Fazal Ali Commission declared that the Telangana State should be a separate entity. The then PM Pandit Nehru said that merger of Telangana with Andhra was nothing but expansionism of the Andhras. Despite this, the Andhra leaders did lobbying in Delhi and merged the Hyderabad state. Since the Telangana leaders were under the Nizam’s rule, they had no relationship with the leaders in Delhi. Since Andhra was under the British Raj, leaders from there had close contacts with the Delhi leaders. But the opposition from the people came within nine years of the united AP rule.”

The Chief Minister explained that protests started in 1966. In 1969, under the leadership of Dr Marri Chenna Reddy a severe agitation took place for the Telangana state. I was in the ninth standard then. “I also suffered the lathi wounds. My father was a follower of Chenna Reddy and Dr Reddy stayed in my house for 10 days. Under the united AP rule the discrimination and injustices have increased. A new political scene emerged following NT Rama Rao establishing a political party.

I also joined the TDP and became an MLA. I was in TDP for two decades and served as a Minister too. During Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure as the CM, as Minister I used to fight with him on a daily basis on the injustices being meted out to the Telangana region. In 1999, I told him farmers will suffer if there is hike in power tariff, but he did not listen. With this I resigned for my posts and launched the separate Telangana statehood movement. Kiran Kumar Reddy on the floor of the Assembly declared that he would not give even a rupee to the Telangana region. That was the height of arrogance and highhandedness of the Andhra rulers. Discrimination and neglect spread to all the sectors. People in the region have waged a movement and gained the separate state,” he said.

“As we have predicted and said during the Telangana movement the State is marching ahead in the development path. With 21 percent growth rate we are number one in the country. We are constructing projects to utilise Godavari and Krishna rivers water,” the Chief Minister explained.

The CM, who accorded a warm welcome to Sri Ram, saw him off till the vehicle.