CPI national secretary K. Narayana on Saturday criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for choosing to conduct the Southern Zonal Council (SZC) meeting in Tirupati, alleging that it was a part of the Centre’s agenda to weaken the southern States and tighten its hegemony over them.
Addressing the media in Tirupati, Mr. Narayana, along with Kerala Minister for Revenue K. Rajan, said, “Though the meeting of the southern States has its venue in Tirupati, the agenda has been prepared in Hyderabad.”
“The Chief Ministers of the southern states should question the Centre on getting their share of the GST, besides asserting their rights,” Mr. Narayana said.
He asked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to pitch for the Special Category Status (SCS) as the State had not been given the special package promised earlier.
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the stone for the State’s capital, Amaravati, it had not been recognised by the Center, Mr. Narayana alleged.
Protest plan
The CPI leaders said the party activists would stage a black-badge protest on Sunday against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Tirupati.
Mr. Rajan alleged that the NDA government was “desperate to spread religious fundamentalism and destroy the spirit of secularism in the country.”
“The Left parties and the democratic and secular forces will continue to expose the conspiracies of the BJP,” he said.
Mr. Rajan also alleged that the Centre had not released funds to the State governments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
