New Delhi: Amid the growing chorus for opposition unity to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in next year’s general elections, the chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states used Sunday’s meeting of the NITI Aayog’s governing council to mount a coordinated attack on the Centre over its economic policies, especially those relating to the agricultural sector, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the national “Team India” spirit.The chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala – Chandrababu Naidu, H.D. Kumaraswamy and Pinarayi Vijayan – called upon the Modi government to share half the estimated cost of the farm loan waiver in their respective states.Leading the opposition’s attack, Naidu faulted the implementation of key economic decisions taken by the Modi government like demonetisation and also sought changes in the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s terms of references that he said discriminated against better-performing states. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister also blamed the Centre’s inability to adjust agricultural trade policies to changes in global market conditions for widespread farm distress. He pitched for the implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations on minimum support price (MSP) for farm produce and also suggested changes in the Centre’s crop insurance scheme. Naidu also expressed reservations over the decision to use the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 to identify beneficiaries for social welfare schemes, saying it could limit access to the benefits.The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said the Finance Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill’s ill-drafted provisions, like those that envisage converting deposits, have caused widespread panic among bank people. He also said that there is a severe cash crunch in the country, which is affecting farming activities and disbursal of pension.Naidu attacked the Centre for not passing on the benefits of low oil prices in the global market to consumers.He also accused the Centre of misleading the country on special category status promised to the divided state. “The Union government tried to mislead the people of India by announcing special assistance measure in lieu of special category status,” Naidu said.He said the people of Andhra Pradesh are angry as the BJP’s manifestos have been promising special status to the state for ten years. Naidu’s demand found support from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who reiterated a similar demand for his own state.Naidu also alleged that the Centre has discriminated against Andhra Pradesh in extending special packages for backward areas, saying it allocated just Rs 450 crore to the state as against Rs 4,000 crore to UP’s Bundelkhand region. Moreover, it took back Rs 350 crore after sanctioning it to the state, in a move that militates against the spirit of cooperative federalism.On demonetisation, he said, adequate care was not taken in rolling out and managing its implementation. “People are facing difficulties in accessing their own money, with small businesses and workers hit hard.”The sharing of tax revenues between the Centre and states also took up a large part of the meeting.Stating his objections to the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s terms of reference on the use of the 2011 rather than 1971 Census data for population, Naidu said this could lead to a reduction in shares of smaller states in the Centre’s divisible pool and also bring down their representation in democratic institutions like parliament. That would amount to penalising states for their better performance in controlling population growth, he added.The fourth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, in New Delhi on Sunday, June 17, 2018. Credit: PTINaidu also expressed concerns over the rising shares of special levies and cesses in the Central government’s tax revenue. “Amount of tax revenue raised by Central government through special levies has increased sharply in recent period. The share of special levies in Central government’s gross tax revenue (GTR) has increased rapidly from 8.8% in 2012-13 to 15.2% in 2016-17. Similarly, share of cess has increased from 6.7% in 2013-14 to 10.8% in 2016-17 as proportion of GTR,” the Andhra chief minister said.Sharing concern over farm distress, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao called for framing a national policy for the sector. “We need to analyse and make a national agriculture policy to ensure food security in the country,” Rao said.He also suggested that the NITI Aayog should classify states according to their level of development.Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami alleged that successive Finance Commissions have treated Tamil Nadu unfairly and while the Fourteenth Finance Commission increased the overall devolution of taxes to the states from 32% to 42%, it reduced inter-se shares of the state in the divisible pool from 4.969% to 4.023%. As a result, Tamil Nadu suffered an annual resource loss of Rs 60 billion.Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy drew attention to the widespread agrarian crisis prevailing in the country and sought the Centre’s support in addressing indebtedness of farmers in his state. “The foremost issue that I would like to focus on is the agrarian crisis that the nation is facing today. Debt of farmers is staring at us in the face. My government is ready to address this problem and I request the government of India to support us,” he said.“In Karnataka about 85 lakh farmers have outstanding debts on account of agricultural loans from the banks. Due to recurring droughts, the distress of the farmers is even more severe,” the Karnataka chief minister added.West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee questioned Modi’s version of cooperative federalism and supported Naidu on the issue of the 2011 Census being adopted by Fifteenth Finance Commission. She said that performing states should not be penalised.Earlier, while making his opening remarks to the fourth meeting of the Aayog’s governing council, Modi said it has approached complex issues of governance as “Team India”, in the spirit of cooperative, competitive federalism. He cited the rollout of Goods and Services Tax as an example.