“Instead of taxing our petrol, govt can make more revenue by imposing GST on purchase of MLAs”
Shashi Tharoor takes swipe at BJP’s “desperation for revenue”; gets mixed response on twitter
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP, Shashi Tharoor, in a recent tweet took a swipe at BJP Government and its desperation for revenue. The former international diplomat suggested the government can make much more money if they impose GST on the purchase of MLAs instead of taxing petrol and diesel.
The swipe at the Centre comes on the back of a recent series of hikes in the prices of petrol and diesel which saw diesel prices surpassing that of petrol for the first time in the country’s history.
“Instead of taxing our petrol & diesel at 32 rupees a litre, couldn’t they make much more money imposing GST on the rising purchase price of MLAs?” Tharoor wrote in the tweet.
He also called on the government for being “Desperate for revenue” and taxing Rs. 32 a litre on petrol.
Users on the micro-blogging site gave a mixed response to the tweet and shared their views and opinions on the matter. Some blamed the poor administration of the government and blamed it for hiking the prices of the fuel, while others brought forward other works of the government.
Here's the tweet:
If the government is so desperate for revenue, instead of taxing our petrol & diesel at 32 rupees a litre, couldn’t they make much more money imposing GST on the rising purchase price of MLAs?
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 22, 2020
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NDA's win in Bihar Assembly bypolls a matter of concern: Prashant Kishor
Patna, Nov 23: Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Saturday dubbed as "a matter of concern" the NDA's win in assembly by-polls in Bihar despite "failure" of the BJP-led coalition to end the state's chronic backwardness during it's decades-long rule.
Talking to reporters here shortly after the results were out, Kishor also drew succour from the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won "10 per cent" of the total votes polled in four seats, but rubbished the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat in three of these.
"RJD is a 30-year-old party. The son of its state president finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that? In Belaganj all Muslim votes went to the JD(U) candidate. In Imamganj, the Jan Suraaj cut into NDA votes. Else, the victory margin of (Union minister) Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha would have been bigger", asserted Kishor.
Notably, Imamganj, a reserved seat, was retained by Manjhi's daughter-in-law Deepa, who defeated the RJD candidate by a thin margin of less than 6,000 votes. Jan Suraaj candidate Jitendra Paswan finished third, polling more than 37,000 votes.
When pointed out that in three of the four seats, candidates of Jan Suraaj had polled less than one-sixth of the total votes and ran the risk of losing their deposits, Kishor shot back "That should not be a matter of concern (chinta ki baat). If there is a matter of concern, it is the ability of the NDA to make a clean sweep despite having ruled Bihar for so long and "failed" to end the state's backwardness".
The IPAC founder, who had a brief stint in the JD(U), insisted that the party's supremo Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, was a "spent force" and its candidate, former MLC Manorama Devi, had won on her own steam.
"We have always said that our fight is with NDA, not with RJD despite its claim of being the largest party in Bihar.....(but) Nitish Kumar is no factor. His party polled just about 11 per cent of total votes", said Kishor.
About his own party's inability to make a mark, Kishor said "We have secured 10 per cent votes..... in seats where Jan Suraaj had no presence since these areas were yet to be covered by my padyatra. Also, please note that we got our poll symbol after filing of nomination papers was over".
He also maintained that the Jan Suraaj will go solo in the assembly polls due next year when it will contest "all 243 seats".
"We were initially written off but by garnering about 10 per cent votes, in a state known to vote along predictable caste lines, we have proved a point. In the next few months we shall be strengthening the organization to ensure that vote share of the Jan Suraaj improves", he said.
