I have no need to apologise to Goans, says T.N. Finance Minister
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan on Sunday mentioned there was no need for him to apologise to Goans as demanded by Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho stating he had solely backed that State’s rights at current forty third GST Council assembly.
Mr. Godinho had claimed that Mr. Thiagarajan had on the digital assembly requested him to “shut up” after he solid his “vote”. He alleged Mr. Thiagarajan’s case was that “since he comes from a big State, he should have a bigger vote”.
Denying all allegations, the Tamil Nadu Finance Minister mentioned that he was clear in his place that “One State-One Vote” mode of the GST Council was basically unfair and he at all times believed in a really federal governance mannequin. “Every statement I made during the entire meeting was entirely consistent with these two principles,” he mentioned.
Mr. Thiagarajan alleged that the Goa Minister was vociferously and repeatedly in opposition to reducing the GST on COVID-19-related medication and vaccines from 5% to 0% on humanitarian grounds.
“In any event, I have no need to apologise to the people of Goa, for I have done you no harm. I have strongly advocated for your State government’s rights. I do not require or expect any thanks for that, as my position was dictated by my principles of strengthening States’ rights and federalism with enhanced devolution,” he mentioned in ‘Statement to the People of Goa’.
He mentioned there was no agenda merchandise within the GST Council concerning Goa’s intention to levy any cess. “So I simply could not have voted at all on an agenda item that did not exist, let alone vote against it!”
Mocks Godinho
Mocking at Mr. Godinho, Mr. Thiagarajan remarked, “I also charge the CM of Goa with perpetrating a misdemeanour on Goa’s citizens, and the GST Council, by nominating him [Mr. Godinho] to represent your beautiful State. Finally, I sincerely request the BJP, even across the political divide, to impose some minimal quality control on its ‘MLA Acquisition’ procedures. If it had done so, Goa, and the nation would be saved a lot of pain.”
Mr. Godinho’s statements on the assembly, Mr. Rajan claimed, have been extremely repetitive, largely vacuous, hectoring, largely redundant to others’ inputs, supercilious, and with inputs from the Minister from Uttar Pradesh.
The Tamil Nadu authorities was at all times for States’ rights and a really federal governance mannequin that devolved powers from the Union authorities to the bottom stage sensible, he reiterated.