Telugu CMs attend Inter-State Council meet

The Inter-State Council meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan began on Saturday morning. It is being attended by almost all 29 Chief Ministers in the country apart from key Central Ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The council is meeting after a decade where important issues such as internal security, direct taxes reforms, the widespread use of Aadhaar Card and so on are expected to be discussed. The Centre in all likelihood will try to push through the Goods and Services Taxes Bill and the benefits that the States could have on account of it and avoidance of double taxation. The Telugu Chief Ministers, N. Chandrababu Naidu and K. Chandrasekhar Rao, are among the attendees. Those not attending the meeting include Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who is reportedly ill. The Chief Minister recently fired a letter to the Centre that it was being stiff-handed as regards funds to her State. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made the inaugural speech at the meeting. Details are awaited.