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.

Senior BRS leader K T Rama Rao on Wednesday said his party is not the ‘B Team’ of anybody but the ‘A Team’ of Telangana people.

Countering Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments that the ruling BRS is the B-team of BJP, he said it did not have any tie-up with the saffron party even in the local body elections.

“BRS is Telangana people’s A team, and nobody’s B team,” he said.

Talking about the opposition parties’ comments on alleged corruption in the government, he asked who stopped the Centre from taking any action.

Rama Rao, who addressed industrialists at a meeting in Hyderabad, claimed a stable government and able leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were the reasons for the companies to move into Telangana from Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

He said the industrial sector would be worst affected if there is political instability.

Rama Rao also said the BRS government had raised loans and invested them in productive sectors like energy, irrigation, and health.

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.