Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has pulled up former Chief Minister and BJP National Vice-President Dr Raman Singh, saying that Chhattisgarh is suffering Rs 6,000 crore loss due to accepting the conditions of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017.

Baghel wrote on his Tweeter account, “In 2017, the ‘Trouble Engine’ (previous Dr Raman Singh-led BJP government) gave approval to the GST Bill under pressure from the Central Government under such conditions which were completely against the interests of Chhattisgarh. Its side effect is that Chhattisgarh is suffering a loss of Rs 6000 crore every year. This mistake of Raman-led government is not forgivable, public will never forgive.” Talking to mediapersons at Police Line Helipad in State Capital on Thursday, Baghel said that due to the failure of Raman Singh, there is a loss of Rs 6,000 crore every year to the exchequer.

The previous BJP government accepted GST doled out by the NDA government without much deliberation. Chhattisgarh will not get the GST compensation from 2022 onwards. Raman Singh should apologize to the people of State for this huge loss on account of GST. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “We are a productive state. We do production of iron, cement and other materials. All the production is being done in Chhattisgarh. The policy made by the Government of India is going to harm the producing states. If anyone is responsible for this loss, it is Raman Singh and his entire team.” Baghel also said that the Director General of Police (DGP) Chhattisgarh wrote a letter to the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA), seeking an investigation into the killing of three BJP leaders in Bastar. The BJP is staging a protest over this issue and so the State Government has written the letter to the NIA for an independent and thorough inquiry, he added.