If elected, Congress to bring one tax, remove GST: Rahul
Bidar (Karnataka), Aug 13 : Again dubbing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the Gabbar Singh tax, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party, if elected, would introduce one tax and remove the new indirect tax regime with five slabs.
"As soon as the Congress returns to power at the Centre in the next general elections, we will bring a single tax and remove the 'Gabbar Singh Tax' with five slabs," asserted Gandhi at a huge party rally here in Karnataka.
Gandhi coined the GST after the famous Bollywood villain Gabbar Singh in the blockbuster "Sholay", which was shot near Ramanagara near Bengaluru.
Claiming that the Congress would form the next government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls, due by May 2019, Gandhi told the gathering that the party would listen to the people and fulfil their wishes.
"We will form and run a government that will do what the people want. We work for the benefit of farmers, youth, poor and small businesses," Gandhi said at the party's Janadhwani (voice of people) rally at Nehru ground in the state's north-west town, about 690 km from Bengaluru.
Urging the people to reach out to the party cadres in the southern state for securing justice, Gandhi said it was the Congress which introduced Article 371J for educational and employment reservations to the natives of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
"The BJP said it was not possible to bring Article 371J but we brought and proved it wrong. It benefitted the local people in getting jobs and admission to medical and engineering colleges in the region.
Notified in November 2013 during the UPA tenure at the Centre, Article 371J of the Constitution is aimed at all-round development of the state's six northern districts, including Bidar.
Mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly failing to generate 2-crore jobs or deliver on promises he made four years ago, the party president said in contrast the Congress was doing its best in fulfilling the promises it made ahead of the May 12 state assembly polls and as an alliance partner in the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-led coalition government in the southern state.
"We promised during the election to waive crop loans of farmers. We are doing whatever we have promised," noted Rahul.
"Modi waived loans of industrialists in crores but not a rupee of farm loan across the country. Yet he goes around talking about the farmers' welfare and claiming to be working for them," alleged Rahul.
Ridiculing Modi for saying a 'dhabawala' (food carriers) used technology to make fuel from the waste in the gutter, Gandhi lamented that the Prime Minister thinks even making snacks like 'pakodas' and carrying tiffin boxes are job creators for the youth.
Regretting Modi's 'silence' over atrocities on women and sexual assault on girls at home shelters in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Rahul said the former's call for 'beti bachao, beti padhao' (save a girl child and educate a girl) was hollow, as there is no let-up in violence against them.
Party's national secretary and its state in-charge K.C. Venugopal, party's leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union minister Veerappa Moily and the party's state unit president Dinesh Gunde Rao were also present at the rally.
"I'm confident our party will win the Lok Sabha polls with a majority. The BJP came to power only through lies, but people are aware that all promises they made were only lies. In all sectors, the Modi government has failed," Rao tweeted.
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All party meet, Parliament session should have been called before "ceasefire": Siddaramaiah
Mysuru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Centre should have called for an all-party meeting and convened a Parliament session before reaching an understanding with Pakistan to stop all military action.
He said the entire credit for the operations against the terrorists and its handlers should go to the armed forces, and that no one should claim credit for it politically.
"Ceasefire has been declared and both countries have come to an understanding on this. Director General of Military Operation (DGMO) of both countries are meeting, let's see what is decided there," Siddaramaiah said in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "In my opinion, they (central government) should have called for an all-party meeting before the ceasefire. Also, the Parliament should have been called, because it is a very serious matter."
On many invoking late PM Indira Gandhi, aimed at drawing parallels between her leadership during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and the ongoing India-Pakistan situation, he said, "It has been many years, about 54 years since 1971, I don't want to speak about it now. Ceasefire has been announced, DGMOs are speaking, let's see."
To a question whether all Pakistani nationals in the state have left the country, Siddaramaiah said that only three children were there in Mysuru and that the remaining all have gone.
The three children were aged below six years. Their parents -- mother was Indian, and father Pakistani. "The three children had gone to the border and as no one came to take them there, they have returned," he said. They were with their mother now.
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