Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said his party has ‘jolted’ the Prime Minister over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) issue and now Modi wants to implement what the grand old party had suggested earlier.
“The Congress has finally jolted Narendraji from his deep slumber on Gabbar Singh Tax. Though still drowsy, he now wants to implement what he had earlier called the Congress Party’s ‘Grand Stupid Thought’. Better late than never Narendraji!,” Gandhi tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi’s remark came two days after PM Modi said in Mumbai that the government was aiming to bring 99 per cent of items at or below 18 per cent GST slab. When the UPA II was in power, BJP had said that GST stood for ‘Grand Stupid Thought.’
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After the PM said “Today, we are reaching the situation where 99 per cent of the things can be brought under 18 per cent or less tax. And we are moving in that direction. After that, half a per cent or one per cent luxury items will probably be left out of 18 per cent, including airplane purchases, buying a big car, alcohol, cigarettes and some things, which will not even be one per cent (of items),” former finance minister P Chidambaram said that ‘belated wisdom’ had dawned upon the Centre.
“Government says 99% of goods will be at 18 per cent GST. Belated wisdom. We should have started with 18 per cent as the standard rate. Having scrambled the egg needlessly when GST was introduced, Government is trying to unscramble it! Typical of NDA,” Chidambaram tweeted on Wednesday.
“BJP/NDA governance mantra is ‘Leap before you look’. Which is the reason for the damage caused by GST to businesses, especially MSMEs,” he added.