Rs 500 crore remark: Dy CM Shivakumar asks Navjot Kaur Sidhu to get admitted to 'mental hospital'
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday advised Congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu to get admitted in a mental health facility for her "Rs 500 crore for CM post" remark.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, had triggered a row on Saturday by claiming that "one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore becomes the Chief Minister," drawing strong response from the BJP and AAP over Congress' functioning.
Responding to her remark, Shivakumar, also state Congress president, said, "let her be admitted to a hospital, some good mental hospital."
Sidhu had said her husband will return to active politics if the Congress declares him as the party's chief ministerial face in Punjab, ahead of the 2027 polls there.
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She further said they do not have money to give to any party but can transform Punjab into a 'golden state'.
"We always speak for Punjab and Punjabiyat...but do not have Rs 500 crore which we can give to sit in chief minister's chair," she told reporters on Saturday after meeting Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on issues, including alleged deterioration of law and order in the state.
When asked if anybody demanded money from them, she said that was not the case but that the "one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore he becomes the CM".
She later claimed that a twist was given to her straight comment.
"I am shocked to see the twist given to a straight comment saying that our Congress party has never demanded anything from us. On being asked about Navjot becoming a CM face from any other party, I stated that we have no money to offer for a CM post," Kaur said in a post on X on Sunday evening.
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Prices of cigarettes, beedis, pan masala to rise from Feb 1 with new tax, cess
New Delhi: Cigarettes, beedis, pan masala and other tobacco products will become costlier from February 1 after the Centre notified additional excise duty on tobacco products and a new Health and National Security Cess on pan masala, NDTV reported.
According to a notification issued by the government on Wednesday, the new levies will be imposed over and above the existing Goods and Services Tax (GST) and will replace the compensation cess currently charged on these products.
From February 1, pan masala, cigarettes, tobacco and similar products will attract a GST rate of 40 per cent, while biris will attract 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST), according to a government notification.
On top of this, a Health and National Security Cess will be levied on pan masala, while tobacco and related products will attract additional excise duty.
The Finance Ministry also notified the Chewing Tobacco, Jarda Scented Tobacco and Gutkha Packing Machines (Capacity Determination and Collection of Duty) Rules, 2026, which will govern the assessment and collection of excise duty on these products.
Parliament had in December approved two Bills allowing levy of the new Health and National Security Cess on pan masala manufacturing and excise duty on tobacco.
The notification issued on Wednesday formally set February 1 as the implementation date. With the rollout of the new tax structure, the existing GST compensation cess on tobacco and pan masala, which is currently levied at varying rates, will cease to exist effective February 1.
