Congress veteran P. Chidambaram on Wednesday accused finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman of making a false statement that GST (goods and services tax) dues of all states had been cleared.

Chidambaram, a former finance minister, said: “Yesterday (Tuesday), in an interview to a television channel, the finance minister (Sitharaman) angrily rebuffed the interviewer and snapped: ‘What dues, I have cleared the GST dues of all states’. The finance minister was wrong. The anger was unjustified. I have gathered data about GST dues from three states. Punjab has dues of Rs 7,393 crore as on June 1, 2021, Rajasthan’s dues are Rs 7,142 crore as on May 21, 2021, and Chhattisgarh has dues of Rs 3,069 crore as on June 1, 2021.”

Chidambaram later added: “Tamil Nadu’s dues are Rs 6,415 crore. Yet the finance minister said that she has cleared the GST dues of all states. Who is right? Who will answer?”