Remove GST on handloom, insurance: KT Rama Rao to Centre
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Along with these, GST should be abolished on all education-related fee, cancer medicines, and life-saving drugs that are critical for survival. He also called for a reduction of taxes and the complete removal of cesses on petrol, diesel, and LPG.
He said the practice of collecting cesses instead of taxes was a deliberate strategy to bypass revenue sharing with states. "This is not just unjust — it is undemocratic," KTR added.
The BRS working president wrote a letter to the Centre ahead of the upcoming GST council meeting, criticising the Modi-led administration for what he called "headline management through hollow announcements" instead of addressing core economic issues faced by ordinary Indians.
In particular, KTR slammed the Centre's recent media campaign around the removal or revision of the 12% GST slab, calling it a diversionary tactic meant to overshadow the crippling burden imposed by fuel prices and unjust taxation policies over the last decade.
He said the Centre was aggressively promoting the idea that removing the 12% GST slab would bring a 'real Diwali' to the people. But for a govt that consistently raised petrol, diesel, and LPG prices — collecting lakhs of crores from the public — "this is nothing more than propaganda", KTR said.
Reiterating the long-standing BRS demand, KTR asked the Centre for complete removal of GST on handloom products, asserting that the handloom sector was not just an economic contributor but also a custodian of India's cultural heritage.
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