HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao pitched for an increased share of central funds and special status to Telangana during a meeting with Union finance minister Arun Jaitely at New Delhi on Saturday. KCR explained to Jaitley that despite the impression that Hyderabad generates lots of revenues, the fact was otherwise following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Briefing reporters in the national capital on the meeting, TRS MP B Vinod Kumar said the chief minister explained to Jaitley that after bifurcation, companies such as Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum have stopped paying value added tax in Hyderabad and that they now pay that tax to Andhra Pradesh. Vinod Kumar also said that Jaitley was informed in detail about the fiscal situation in the state and hoped that the Centre would provide tax incentives and special status to Telangana.

While KCR also planned to meet with Union power minister Piyush Goyal, it was not possible as the latter was not in New Delhi, Vinod Kumar said. Earlier on Friday, the chief minister met Chief Justice of India HL Dattu for about 40 minutes. It was learnt that during the meeting, KCR discussed the issue of setting up a high court for Telangana and requested the chief justice to enable speeding up the process for the same.

