Speaking at Jandar Mandar, kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that they have come to register their opposition to the central government on the issue of tax distribution. He thanked all the opposition leaders for their support.
Amid growing tensions between the central government and the southern states, the leaders of three states -- karnataka, kerala and tamil Nadu -- have protested in the capital delhi over unfair allocation of funds to the state governments.
After the Siddaramaiah-led karnataka government's "Salo Delhi" protest in capital delhi on Wednesday, kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also led the protest on Thursday. The tamil Nadu government has extended its support to the protest, which is being conducted by the central government saying that it is neglecting the southern states in financial matters.
In this case, kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, speaking at a meeting held at Jandar Mandar, said that we have come to register our protest against the central government on the issue of tax distribution.
He thanked all the opposition leaders for their support and said that the central government was taking decisions arbitrarily without consulting the states.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the revenue sharing is now upside down and the states have to bear 65 percent of the tax burden while the central government gives only 35 percent of the expenditure.
Pinarayi Vijayan also spoke about GST compensation and said that everyone knows what happened in it. "It was only when several state governments decided to approach the supreme court that the central government released the GST arrears," he said.
Earlier, the ruling Left Front in kerala had announced that a protest would be held in delhi against the cheating of the southern states in the fund sharing issue. However, the central government has rejected the allegations of the southern state governments, saying that there is no discrimination in providing funds.
According to sources in delhi, delhi chief minister arvind kejriwal and punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann are also likely to participate in the kerala government protest in delhi today.
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