Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday slammed the Narendra Modi government’s decision to defend the increase in Goods and Services Tax (GST) on food items, and argued that the Centre is penalising aspirations of the people to buy hygienically packed food items.
The Congress would launch protests in all taluks and hoblis against imposition of 5% tax on pre-packed foodgrains, he said.
Addressing reporters here, Mr. Shivakumar said hike in GST rates burdens the common man and employees of all sectors.
‘Plug tax revenue leakage’
Former Minister and MLA Krishna Byre Gowda argued that the Centre would not benefit from hiking 5% tax on packed food items. Instead of taking steps to plug the leakage in tax revenue and increasing tax slabs on corporate firms, he said the Centre had reduced the corporate tax from 30% to 22%. Not a single company has transferred the benefit of GST to consumers, Mr. Gowda claimed.
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday gave a list of items that are exempted from GST if sold lose. The list includes pulses/dal, wheat, rye, oats, maize, rice, atta/flour, sooji, rawa, besan, puffed rice and curd/lassi.
Protest today
Mr. Shivakumar said the party has decided to take out a Raj Bhavan chalo protest march on Thursday opposing the questioning of AICC president Sonia Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate for the alleged role in money laundering linked to the National Herald newspaper.
All party MPs, MLAs, MLCs and leaders of the party would participate in the protest march from Freedom Park in the city to the Raj Bhavan, he told reporters here.
All leaders would stage protests in front of the Central government offices in districts on Friday and oppose the “politics of vendetta” by the Centre, he added.
