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.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP veteran DV Sadananda Gowda announced that he has decided to retire from electoral politics.

The announcement by the former Union Minister, currently an MP from Bangalore North, is significant coming ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“I have decided not to continue in electoral politics. For 30 years my party has given me everything. After BS Yediyurappa (veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister) I’m the number one beneficiary in the party,” Mr Gowda said when asked if he would be the state BJP chief again.

Speaking to reporters, he said, “I have been in politics for 30 years – 10 years as MLA, 20 years as MP, one year as Chief Minister, one-and-a-half years as leader of opposition (in Legislative Council), five years as deputy leader of opposition in the assembly, four-and-a-half years as party president, and seven years as a minister in the Union cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

“If a politician is not happy after all this, he is not a true politician. He is selfish,” he said.

In June, DV Sadananda Gowda urged BJP’s top brass to counter speculation that 13 incumbent party MPs, including himself, would not get party tickets for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year, while seemingly expressing his frustration about the party doing little in this regard.

Recently, he also tried to call out the party for not consulting the state leaders before forging an alliance with the JD(S), and lamented the delay in appointing a leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.

Mr Gowda resigned from the Union Council of Ministers in July 2021.

Besides being the chemicals and fertilisers minister in the Narendra Modi government, Mr Gowda has held portfolios such as Railways, Law, and Statistics and Programme Implementation.

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.