Hyderabad: Amid a furore among the Opposition parties over recent GST hikes on essential commodities such as pre-packaged rice, wheat and milk, Telangana IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday slammed the NDA government at the Centre over the rates and demanded an apology from Prime Minister Modi to the people of the country.
In an interview with ABP News, KT Rama Rao (KTR), son of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, said, "TRS-led government had opposed the new GST regime during the meeting of the Council. Levying of GST on curd, milk and rice was opposed during the GST Council meeting. GST Council only recommends, but here they take the credit if something good happens and all that is bad is attributed to the states."
The issue has led to adjournments in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha for two consecutive days. TRS MPs have also protested at the Gandhi statue in Parliament against the GST rate hike and skyrocketing inflation.
Speaking about TRS' demands, he said the issue would be raised in Parliament till there was a permanent solution to this. "We are demanding to rollback these GST rates," KTR told ABP News.
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Taking a swipe at the PM Modi-led government, KTR called it an "NPA", a "non-performing alliance", and not NDA. "I congratulate Mr Modi that he hasn't left anything, from birth to death, from the purview of GST," KTR said.
While speaking about skyrocketing inflation and the unemployment rate touching rock bottom, he said, "I haven't seen a bigger visionary government as the inflation touches a 30-year high and the unemployment rate is a 45-year high."
"When he (PM Modi) came to power, USD 1 was equal to Rs 50. It has gone up to Rs 80 now. What has he done, after all, to reduce inflation?" he questioned.