South Indian states to prepare joint memo against FC

Thiruvanthapuram, April 10: The daylong meeting of ministers from Kerala, Karataka and Andhra Pradesh besides Puducherry Chief Minister V rayasamy on Tuesday decided to prepare a joint memorandum to be submitted to the 

President and others for reframing of the 15th Fince Commission's terms of reference. The meeting was called by Kerala Fince Minister Thomas Issac for his counterparts from southern states to have a detailed review and critique of the terms of reference.

Kartaka Agriculture Minister Krish Byre Gowda, Andhra Pradesh Fince Minister Yamala Rama Krishnudu and other top officials attended, while representatives from Telenga and Tamil du were absent.

"At today's meeting we have decided to prepare a joint memorandum of the manner in which the Fince Commission should go  about things and should take into confidence the states.

"We have entrusted (the state-owned) Gulati Institute of Fince and Taxation to prepare the draft and by end of this month or early next month, we would meet again to filise the memorandum and in that meeting to be held in Visakhapatm, we will invite state governments of other non-BJP ruled states also. After which it would be send to the President and others," Issac told media after the meeting. The states would even explore taking legal steps also, he added.

The day long workshop was iugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pirayi Vijayan who also demanded the reframing of the terms of reference, which, he said, was necessary to save the federal structure of the Indian Union. (IANS)