Madam, time to put up a banner: KTR to Nirmala Sitharaman amid Centre vs Telangana

Centre vs Telangana: Both the Telangana government and the Centre came out with figures of how much they are spending for the state – after Nirmala Sitharaman rapping an IAS officer for the absence of PM Modi's posters at a fair price shop went viral.

Telangana minister KTR on Saturday put out some figures and claimed that BJP states should put up a banner thanking Telangana for the tax it pays to the Centre after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman pulled up Kamareddy district collector Jitest Pillai on several issues -- one being the absence of PM Modi's posters at the fair price shop. As the video of Nirmala Sitharaman publicly reprimanding the IAS officer went viral, Telangana ministers criticised the Union minister and called her behaviour 'unruly'.

KTR said Telangana gets back only 46 paisa of every rupee it contributes to the nation.

Citing figures of the taxes collected by the Centre from Telangana, KTR claimed that Telangana gets back 46 paisa of every rupee it contributes to the nation. The figures quoted by KTR claimed Telangana gave ₹46,117 crore to the Centre in 2020-21 and received ₹28,163 crore from the Centre.

"Since our FM is going around lecturing on how 'Modi Sarkar' is the giver, here are the facts and figures," KTR claimed.

Dileep Konatham, director of the Telangana government's digital media division claimed that the finance minister is spreading misinformation about the state's finances. "Will she care to explain why country's debt to GDP ratio increased to 60% and what happened to ₹80 lakh crore loans taken by Union govt under Modi ji?" he said.

As Sitharaman was in Telangana inspecting ration shops, the incident took place at one such shop in Birkoor. The minister asked why PM Modi's flexis were not there. Since March-April 2020, the Centre has been providing rice priced at ₹30- ₹35 free of cost without the state government and the beneficiaries having to contribute anything, she said and asked the collector how much is the state's share in that. "Not at all. You are an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, belonging to the Telangana cadre...You are telling me the state is giving ₹34? Excuse me! You want to think about your answer," the minister said.

Telangana minister T Harish Rao said the Centre supplies 10 kg of rice per month at ₹3 per kg to only 50 to 55 per cent of the cardholders under NFSA (National Food Security Act) and for the rest 45-50 per cent, Telangana government supplies at its own cost

Amid the to-and-fro, Telangana PIB published a detailed statement of the amount of money the Centre sanctioned for Telangana.