Kerala is facing financial problems due to the Centre’s unfriendly fiscal approach but the state will not stop implementing welfare schemes, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.

Amid the continuing political slugfest between the ruling BJP at the Centre and opposition parties in the states over doling out freebies, Vijayan asserted that Kerala does not accept the central government’s stand that there should be no freebies.

“Efforts are being made to lead the state to achieve its goals without compromising development and welfare activities,” Mr Vijayan, who is heading the country’s lone Left-led government, said at a briefing here.

Criticising the Centre for its approach to states in terms of fiscal matters, the senior CPI(M) leader acknowledged that the Kerala government was facing financial problems.

“It (Kerala government) is facing extreme attacks from the central government on the financial front,” Mr Vijayan said and reiterated that with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), states have lost a lot of power in collecting taxes.

He said that despite the Centre’s unfriendly financial approach, the state government would not back down from implementing welfare schemes.

According to Mr Vijayan, the state is trying to overcome crises by raising its own revenue and through careful financial management.

Fiscal management of the state is based on the basic principles of economic consolidation by boosting tax collection and controlling excess expenditure, the chief minister said.

Noting that the state’s right to tax collection has been restricted to petrol, diesel, and liquor, Mr Vijayan said the fixing of ceilings on GST rates and the significant reduction of the revenue neutral rate have been a blow for Kerala’s revenue.

This year, there is a shortfall of Rs 57,400 crore in the amounts received from the Centre, the chief minister said.

Further, Mr Vijayan alleged that the central government denied Rs 19,000 crore of the loans that the state deserves, and there was also a Rs 8,400 crore shortfall in revenue deficit grant compared to last year.

The increase in the state’s own tax revenue in 2021-22 was 22.41 per cent and the same rose to 23.36 per cent in 2022-23.

The chief minister also highlighted that the state’s revenue deficit has come below one per cent (0.9 per cent) for the first time in history.

“All these (factors) indicate the success of Kerala’s fiscal consolidation activities as per the schedule set by the Finance Commission,” he said.

Ukraine’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed lawmaker with a car bomb in the occupied eastern city of Luhansk on Wednesday, an operation it said it conducted with local resistance forces.

Mikhail Filiponenko, a lawmaker in a Russia-installed local assembly, had been active in Luhansk’s pro-Russian separatist movement since 2014. He had served as one of the top commanders in the army of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic.

The agency said Filiponenko was eliminated in an early morning explosion. He died at the site, it added on Telegram messenger.

It accused him of organising dungeons for civilians and prisoners of war in Luhansk region.

“Filiponenko himself brutally tortured people,” agency said, giving no details.

In September, Filiponenko was elected to the regional parliament in a vote that drew widespread international condemnation.

Bomb blasts targeting senior Russian-installed officials in occupied parts of Ukraine have been a regular occurrence since Russia ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions Russia claims to have annexed since the start of its invasion, something Kyiv and its Western allies strongly reject.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the Rajasthan chief electoral officer, alleging that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot concealed information on criminal cases against him in his nomination papers.

A similar complaint has been made to the Jodhpur district election officer as well.

Mr Gehlot is contesting from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura seat for the November 25 Rajasthan assembly polls. There was no immediate reaction from his office on the matter.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Gupta at the secretariat, Mr Shekhawat said, “In his affidavit filed along with the nomination papers, Chief Minister Gehlot has not mentioned two such cases going on against him which are cognisable and connected with serious crimes.” 

“One case is related to a land scam and the other is related to robbery and rape. He hid information regarding both the cases in his affidavit which are cognisable under the Representation of the People Act,” the minister said.

He alleged that Mr Gehlot had full knowledge about the cases but did not mention them in the affidavit.

“We have complained to the Election Commission that it should take cognisance of this and take appropriate action,” Shekhawat added.

Meanwhile, in Jodhpur, District Election Officer Himanshu Gupta sought details from the returning officer on Gehlot’s nomination following objections on the same grounds.

The development followed a complaint by a person identified as Pawan Pareek, who claimed that Gehlot filed a fabricated and false affidavit and demanded the rejection of his nomination.

Mr Pareek also demanded a case against the chief minister in his complaint to the district election officer.

“Mr Gehlot had to furnish entire details about the pending criminal cases against him but it was incomplete and two criminal cases have been concealed,” he claimed.

Mr Gupta said the objection was registered and a detailed report summoned from the returning officer concerned.

“We will investigate the matter after receiving the report,” he added.