Shimla: BJP national president JP Nadda’s recent visit to Himachal Pradesh has sparked renewed tensions between the ruling Congress party and the central government, with focus on the state’s fiscal challenges and resource constraints.
Returning to Shimla after a gap of six days, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the funds allocated by the central government to Himachal are the state’s rightful entitlement, not an act of charity. He said that the states are an integral part of the federal structure, where each has both rights and responsibilities.
“Where does the Union government collect its taxes from? It is the states’ contributions that form the central revenue. Therefore, states have a legitimate claim on this tax revenue,” he asserted, adding that the Centre was not distributing charity but returning what is due. Sukhu said: “The Revenue Deficit Grant is a rightful entitlement of the people of Himachal Pradesh, and we are also entitled to our share in central taxes”
Nadda, during his reception organised at hometown Bilaspur, his first visit after becoming the Union minister for health and Chemicals, said: “The state government can’t survive for a single day if the Centre doesn’t provide funds to pay salaries and pensions to the staff and retire government servants.”
He also accused the government of “100 percent corruption” and inability to fulfil its poll-guarantees, saying it has now started burdening the people with new forms of taxes like the ‘toilet seat tax’.