Nirmala Sitharaman slams Congress MP D K Suresh over demand for separate nation for southern states
Bengaluru Rural MP Suresh had claimed that taxes collected from the south were being distributed to north India and that the former (southern states) was not getting the due share
Congress MP D K Suresh said that the southern states may be compelled to seek a separate country as a result of the supposed inequity in the distribution of federal subsidies to them. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has denounced this comment.
While "the central government has no role to play except for obeying the Finance Commission, Sitharaman said the states must sit with the Commission and highlight the weightage that will help them get the grants."
Each of the southern states has its unique strengths, and they are all approaching the very perilous threshold of being considered "Southern states together." Therefore, I don't want to lump them all together as southern states. The finance minister said at an interactive event called "The Indian Express Adda" here on Wednesday that "we will have '...' (separate nation)."
The Bengaluru Rural MP Suresh said earlier this month that if the purported "injustice" is not corrected, the southern states would be compelled to push for their own country.
He had said that the southern states in India were not receiving their fair share of the taxes that were collected from them and were instead being sent to north India.
"We shall create a distinct southern state, according to your responsible member of parliament, Suresh, who is also the brother of the Karnataka deputy chief minister. That's not how far it can go. I apologize. That is unacceptable to me," Sitharaman remarked.
She went on to explain, saying, "I'm from a southern state. I can't stand next to someone who says, "We in the southern states then demand...it cannot be so," and wait even a second longer. That's the thing that worries me." Sitharaman commended the southern states for their improved index performance, but emphasized that they must emphasize and discuss their requests and weightages when they meet with the Finance Commission.
"The central government has no role to play except for obeying the Finance Commission," the minister of finance said. "I have to provide this amount if the Finance Commissioner instructs me to do so each month. No finance minister could ever change it to benefit one party over the other," Sitharaman said.
