Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already forwarded his wish list to the Modi government. PTI/File photoAs the new government settled down at the Centre, the state governments have become assertive in their demands. Interestingly the first chief minister to stake the claims of his state is from the BJP itself.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was considered as a prime ministerial material candidate at least by a small section of the party, has forwarded his wish list. Chouhan has raised a number of objections to the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), demanding higher compensation from the centre.
Shivraj Chouhan has demanded that Madhya Pradesh should be compensated every rupee which it would lose when the new tax is imposed, replacing the present Value Added Tax (VAT).
Chouhan's demand has found echo in other BJP ruled states, including Gujarat. The Congress governments, which had gone along with GST when it was brought during Manmohan Singh's time, have now hardened their stand.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who also handles the Defence portfolio, has however indicated that he would go for one quick round of negotiations with an open mind, and wants to clinch the approval of all the state governments in the next few months.
Rajasthan, Assam and news states of Andhra Pradesh have demanded higher rates of royalty for the oil and gas extracted from their states. The rich oil finds in the deserts of Barmer have kicked off a boom in western Rajasthan, while the gas fields in Krishna-Godavari basin have benefited coastal Andhra Pradesh. Assam is one of the oldest oil producing states in the country.
These three states have told Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan that the earlier governments had not yielded much by way of revenue share, but they are pinning their hopes of Modi's promise of an equitable share to states, especially as he was a chief minister himself for long.
Another state which has put a demand of central assistance of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore is Tamil Nadu.
Its chief minister Jayalalithaa controls critical number of MPs both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and has been an admirer of the prime minister. She has said that she had got a raw deal from both Manmohan Singh and his finance minister P. Chidambaram, and wants Modi and Jaitley to compensate for the earlier neglect of the Congress.
The new states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana want big doses of money. While Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is an ally of BJP, has adopted a friendly approach, the chief minister of Telangana Chandrashekar Rao has adopted a confrontational stance with the Centre. While Rao is protesting over special powers given to governor for maintaining law and order in Hyderabad. But his real motive is to ensure that he gets enough money for the newly created state.
Other states including Kerala have given their demands to the Centre. It will be a busy time for Modi, Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh to deal with the pressure from the states.
Tail-piece: the prime minister's office has initiated back channel efforts to prevent the proposal of central trade unions to launch a nationwide strike over allowing of foreign direct investment in defence, railways and insurance, even while the formal negotiations will be done by the labour ministry.
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