Responding to charges that the central government has been favouring only the Corporates, she categorically denied it and questioned if a state government has received investment proposals, does it automatically imply that it is showing favouritism.”The Centre is not favouring any Corporates. Secondly, today Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) inaugurated the Vizhinjam Port. But, it was formally handed over to Adani Group by the previous Congress government under the late Oommen Chandy. I should also ask this to you (media) that if a state is receiving investment proposals does that mean it was favouring a corporate?”To a query about the DMK’s claim that the Centre has not been granting funds to the state, Sitharaman said she has addressed this issue during her visits to the state. “I have been sharing the data of how much funds have been allocated to Tamil Nadu, whenever I visit here. But they (TN government) have been commenting like this (that Centre did not release any funds),” she said.Recently, when grant was provided to the state under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), Sitharaman said, “a DMK MP in a private message thanked me for the funds. But in public, he says differently that the Centre is not releasing funds. You (Media) should understand this.”On the Goods and Services Tax, she said it is a compilation of 17 taxes and 8 cess which were levied before 2014. “It was already in existence in a different format. But, now, if you get a receipt from a shopkeeper, he displays how much CGST and SGST is being paid for that product in an efficient and transparent manner.””Another point which I want to clarify is that GST cannot be decided by a single person and it is the council that passes the Bill after receiving the approval from all its members, who are all representatives of every state government,” she added.
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