Centre reduced GST due to stiff opposition: MLC

Mangaluru: KPCC working president and MLC Manjunath Bhandary said that the central govt under Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not reduce GST out of love for the people of the country. They were forced to revise the GST due to the strong opposition by Rahul Gandhi and well-known economists, Bhandary said.He told reporters here on Thursday, that the central govt's recent reduction in GST rates vindicates the Congress party's longstanding position that the tax system was burdening people. "The BJP govt at the Centre has been "looting people" for over eight years through the increased rate of GST. This has led to the shutdown of lakhs of small and medium industries, forcing labourers to commit suicide," he said."The GST that the BJP govt implemented is entirely different from the same that the Congress had conceptualised. The BJP opposed GST in its 2014 Lok Sabha manifesto," Bhandary said."The GST reduction is just an election gimmick when Bihar is gearing up for elections," he said, and questioned the central govt's decision to launch a special GST awareness campaign across all assembly constituencies until Oct 20.