Ivan D’Souza slams BJP for calling GST 2.0 as a Deepavali Gift

Ivan D’Souza, MLC, on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for calling the GST 2.0 as a Deepavali gift and claimed that it was because of the continuous pressure mounted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA bloc that the Union government rationalised the tax structure.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr. D’Souza questioned the contribution of BJP MPs from Karnataka in compelling the Centre to rationalise the structure. “Give one example of the BJP elected representatives demanding reduction in taxes,” he said, chiding Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyasa Kamath distributing pamphlets across the constituency claiming credit for GST 2.0 and announcing it as BJP’s Deepavali gift.

For the last eight years, the BJP-led NDA fleeced the common man with abnormally high taxes and now the party claims it has given much relief to people. What happened to crores of rupees of additional taxes collected from people, he questioned, and wondered whether the government would be able to reimburse the same.

No infrastructure project

Notwithstanding getting elected in good numbers to the Lok Sabha from Karnataka, BJP members miserably failed to bring in any new infrastructure project to the State, the MLC lamented.

While new highway projects were limping, ongoing highway expansion projects were stuck in the midway thereby severely inconveniencing people.

“They do not have any moral right to criticise the Congress government in the State which has been delivering on the promises it made during the election campaign. BJP elected representatives’ performance has been a big zero,” Mr. D’Souza chided.

Despite the Karnataka coast electing BJP MPs for a considerable number of terms, they have failed the coast too. Widening of two major national highways, 169 and 75 in the region, was not complete. Road users were put to great hardship, the MLC said.

Capt. Chowta questioned

Questioning MP Capt. Brijesh Chowta over his criticism of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s comments on reduction of GST rates, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary R. Padmaraj said the MP has demeaned his status by commenting against Mr. Siddaramaiah, whose comments on GST rate reduction was based on his experience of presenting maximum number of State Budgets.

Talking to reporters in Mangaluru on Thursday, Mr. Padmaraj said it was the Central government which introduced GST in 2017 and had kept rates high for various essential services. Following decision of GST Council, the Centre has now reduced GST rates. The Centre cannot celebrate reduction of GST rates as a landmark measure, he said.