TRS to stay 'neutral' on note ban anniversary day tomorrow

As the Congress and several other opposition parties plan to observe "black day" on the anniversary of demonetisation tomorrow and the BJP is geared up to observe "anti-black money day", there is one outfit that will stay neutral -- the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

"We are neutral. We have always been neutral, keeping our distance from all parties equally," K Kavitha, a Lok Sabha member from Telangana's ruling party told PTI.

The daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recalled that the TRS had supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of note ban.

She added that the chief minister made sure that the people did not face the "wrath" of demonetisation.
 

"We (TRS government) made sure that we organised camps for the people to understand the process. As a responsible government, whatever best we could do, we did," Kavitha said.

She also said that demonetisation, coupled with the Goods and Services Tax (GST), certainly had some ramifications on the government's earnings and the business environment, among others, and added, "We are carefully watching out for our people."

"There was not much effect on the economy (of demonetisation). The initial months...it was a little slow, people did not want to spend money...the entire system was slow but then, GST came in," Kavitha said.

"We are hoping that the reforms (demonetisation and GST) will yield positive results. The process will take time and as a responsible government, we are willing to wait," the Nizamabad MP added.

She hoped that the new tax regime would have a long-term positive effect and said, "We do not want to judge, because this will have a long-term effect on many more businesses, but would like to wait and watch."

Kavitha also noted that the decision to roll out GST was not taken by the government alone.

"We, as a nation, took the decision. The government put it in Parliament and everybody okayed it. Then, once as a nation we took the decision together, we have to sail through the process, we have to understand where it will lead us and at this point, we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best possible outcome," she said.