Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday took a dig at the government for reducing GST rates on nearly 100 items ahead of assembly elections in four states, saying holding frequent polls is good for the people.
“When elections are around the corner, government cuts rates. I suppose that makes a good case for frequent elections in different states!,” he said.
“The GST Council cuts rates on 100 items, approves quarterly returns. Belated wisdom. Why did Government not follow our advice in July 2017?
“There are many other lacunae in the GST law. I doubt if the government has the will or the skill to remove these lacunae,” he said.
The GST Council in its 28th meeting yesterday approved rate reductions for 88 consumer-centric items such as cosmetics, refrigerators, washing machines, and small screen televisions, and cleared the widely demanded exemption on sanitary napkins.
Assembly elections are due in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram later this year.
When the GST council reduced the number of items attracting the top 28 per cent tax rate to just 50 from 228 inNovember last year, Chidambaram had said the decision had been taken to further thechances of the BJP in Gujarat where the election was due then.
“Thank you Gujarat. Your elections did what Parliament and common sense could not do,” he had tweeted then.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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