BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav. (File)
Worried that the southern states’ objections to the parameters chosen by 15th Finance Commission for distribution of central tax revenues can hurt its electoral prospects in the south, the BJP Tuesday took up the matter with its Chairman N K Singh and received an assurance that states with progressive population policy would not be penalised.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, who met Singh on Tuesday, told The Indian Express, “The chairman assured that the guidelines are such that no state with progressive population policy would face injustice. He said that the terms of reference ensure that no discrimination is committed against the states with progressive population policies and measures.”
“In fact, he even said they (guidelines) have the scope for incentivising such actions,” he said after the meeting.
The meeting came after Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah alleged discrimination against southern states and Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac called a meeting of his counterparts in the southern states to discuss the issue. “There was a need to allay the fears of the southern states and to end the false propaganda against the finance commission recommendations,” Madhav said.
He said the Finance Commission has not even properly started consultations to finalise the guidelines. “It will be finalised only by the end of 2019. The commission will be touring the states and will listen to their concerns. I am confident that the final report will be appreciated by everyone,” the BJP leader said.
The BJP has been facing criticism for not fulfilling the demand by political parties in Andhra Pradesh for special category status, which was done away with the previous finance commission. The ruling TDP recently walked out of the NDA over the issue. Both TDP and its political opponent in the state YSRCP have given notices for moving a no-confidence motion against the NDA government in Lok Sabha.
In the wake of TDP and YSRCP upping the ante, Siddaramaiah alleged discrimination against southern states, citing the central government’s recommendation to Finance Commission to use population data from the 2011 Census, instead of 1971 Census, for sharing central tax revenues. He had called for coming together of southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala — to “resist” to protect “interests of the south.”
Isaac too has called a meeting of southern finance ministers on April 10 to take a unified stand against the Centre’s recommendation to use the 2011 Census as the base for evolving its resource sharing formula. This direction, the southern states argue, would adversely affect entitlements of the states that had successfully implemented population growth control measures.
Madhav’s meeting assumes significance as the BJP started getting nervous about its prospects in the southern states in the 2019 election. With the party apprehending that it may lose some seats in its strongholds such as UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat and MP, it has marked around 115 seats as its new catchment area. Most of these seats are in southern states that are ruled by Opposition parties. The party has been struggling to expand its base in the region, but a coming together of these states would mar its plans. “When BJP has this tag — of being an anti-south party — such a grouping would further damage us and will completely destroy our plans. The BJP has to pre-empt such a move,” said a senior party leader.