Opposition MPs raise Centre's discriminatory attitude towards southern states in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) The members of the opposition parties such as the Congress and the DMK raised the discriminatory attitude of the NDA government against the southern states in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the president's address, Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury and DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu argued that southern states are not only deprived of the financial support that they deserve but even the commitments made to two of them in Parliament has also been disrespected and disregarded.

Chowdhury, citing the various promises made to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana before they split, said that both states were betrayed because promises such as setting up a steel plant and Central Tribal University among others made in Parliament haven't been kept by the NDA government for the past nine years.

"Every rupee that a young state like Telangana contributes to the Union government of taxes, they give us back only 4 paise. 4.5 per cent of India's GDP is contributed by my state of Telangana," Chowdhury said.

The entire southern states are being discriminated against because the ruling party doesn't have any presence there, she added.

DMK MP Kanimozhi said that the president in the address talked about serving the 140 crore people of this country, however, no scheme or fund was announced for Tamil Nadu treating the state in a step-motherly way.

Raising the major natural disasters such as the recent cyclones and floods that Tamil Nadu suffered with, Kanimozhi said that the state requested 45,000 crore for relief, however, the Centre has released only Rs 276 crore so far.

She alleged that under the GST system, if Tamil Nadu pays Rs 1, it gets back only 29 paise whereas Uttar Pradesh gets Rs 2.73.

Tamil Nadu has been deprived of funds for various sectors such as railway, education and housing among others, she added.

The DMK MP also questioned the governor's role in Tamil Nadu and said that the governor has no constitutional right to be indecisive or to make inordinate delay in pertaining to the resolutions duly passed in the state assemblies by the democratically elected governments.

While Kanimozhi focused her speech largely around the Centre turning a blind eye to the rightful demands of the southern states, Chowdhury took a swipe at the current government on several other issues such as falling rupees against the dollar, price rise, the rising unemployment among educated youths, the country's unpreparedness amidst ongoing tariff war among big countries etc.

Chowdhury said the tariff war between major economies is going to affect India and the country has not geared up to meet the challenges.

She also spoke on the degenerating parliamentary values and said, "HC judges are making hate speeches on public platforms and then they are rewarded to come to Parliament and thereby denigrate the status of Parliament as well." Several opposition MPs appreciated their concerns in between their speeches by raising slogans in favour of the issues that they raised. PTI JP AS AS

Source: PTI