News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • BJP leader Sushil Modi suggests levying 0.1 per cent CGST, SGST on COVID-19 vaccines

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Tuesday suggested levying 0.1 per cent each of CGST and SGST on vaccines, oxygen ventilators and other essential medical devices required for treating coronavirus infections.

    Modi was closely associated with the GST Council during his tenure as the Finance Minister of Bihar.

    He had also served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

    While the GST Council is expected to soon take a call on the GST (Goods and Services Tax) rates for these items, Modi said the most feasible option appears to be to charge a nominal tax and make them more affordable amid the pandemic.

    Currently, there is a 5 per cent GST on domestically-manufactured vaccines while it is 12 per cent for COVID drugs and oxygen concentrators.

    “Giving exemption from GST to COVID vaccines, ventilators or other essential medical devices may not be a feasible option as it will eventually increase prices for the end users, as manufacturers would not get the input tax credit,” Modi told PTI.

    Modi also pointed out that bringing these medical devices and vaccines “zero-rated under the GST regime would require amendment in the GST Act from all State Assemblies and Parliament, which will be a time consuming step”.

    “My suggestion would be to charge 0.1 per cent, both CGST and SGST, on vaccines, oxygen ventilators, oxygen concentrators, thermometers and other essential drugs and medical devices required for treatment of COVID.

    By doing this, manufacturers can claim input tax credit while prices will be relatively lower,” Modi said.

    He emphasised that it was his personal view and ultimately, the Council will take a call.

    CGST refers to Central GST while SGST stands for State GST.

    Emphasising that the ultimate aim is not to garner revenues but to help end consumers, he also suggested that drugs and medical devices should be treated as deemed export items.

    Describing the GST Council as “a successful example” of cooperative federalism, he said that till date, barring one occasion, all decisions taken by the Council were unanimous.

    On May 28, the GST Council could not decide on tweaking taxes on COVID vaccines and medical supplies as the BJP and Opposition-ruled states sparred over whether tax cut benefits will reach the common man.

    The Council then decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to decide on GST relief on COVID essentials.

    The GoM submitted its report to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is chairing the Council, on Monday.

    The report of the panel of state ministers would be discussed in the next GST Council meeting, which is expected soon.

  • BJP leaders in West Bengal hold meeting on ‘post-poll violence’

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday held a meeting with party functionaries over the post-poll scenario in the state, as he claimed that workers were being attacked and forced out of their homes across districts by goons bearing allegiance to the ruling TMC.

    Several senior leaders, during the discussion, talked about ways to deal with the current situation, and activists shared their woes, sources in the party said.

    “Violence continues unabated in the state even after the formation of the government; the ruling party is unwilling to acknowledge the incidents,” Ghosh told reporters ahead of the meeting.

    Claiming that the “state government does not want peace to prevail”, Ghosh said that the BJP has moved various commissions and courts seeking protection for its workers.

    Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wasn’t present at the session as he is away in Delhi to meet Home Minister Amit Shah and party’s national president J P Nadda.

    Party national vice-president Mukul Roy also skipped the meeting, amid speculation about a possible change in political equation after TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee visited his ailing wife in hospital on June 2.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Roy on June 3 to enquire about his wife’s condition, and Ghosh, too, had visited the hospital to meet her.

  • Five Trinamool turncoats snap all contacts with BJP

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Five Trinamool Congress (TMC) turncoats who joined the BJP ahead of the recent Assembly elections have snapped all contacts with the saffron camp, a BJP functionary said on Monday. 

    “Since the elections results were announced, five former TMC MLAs, whom the BJP had fielded, but could not win, have snapped all contacts with the party. We tried to contact them, but we couldn’t. They are not reachable on the contact numbers available with the party,” said the functionary in Kolkata.

    Another functionary said many others are maintaining a distance from the party since the election results came out. 

    “They may quit the BJP in the near future. It seems they are in touch with the TMC, but the ruling party has not yet decided its stand on those who are willing to come back,” he said. 

    Before the Assembly elections, 33 turncoat MLAs—most of them from the TMC—joined the BJP. The saffron camp fielded 18 of them. But, only five managed to win a seat.

    The five MLAs are former minister Rajib Banerjee, Sabyasachi Dutta, Prabir Ghoshal, Wilson Champramary, and Shukra Munda.

    Five other TMC turncoats, who had earlier joined the BJP, had also left the saffron camp.They are Sovan Chatterjee, Sonali Guha, Dipendu Biswas, Amal Acharya and Bachhu Hansda.

    Meanwhile, TMC MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy said a final decision on whether to accept returning turncoats will be made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    ​The exodus from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP began after the latter made deep inroads into the former’s turf in 2019 by winning 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.

  • Uttar Pradesh polls 2022: BJP’s booth level workers to have decisive role in candidates selection

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Booth level workers are likely play definitive role in selection of ruling BJP candidates for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

    According to sources in the saffron party’s state unit, the workers’ committees, which comprise of grassroot BJP workers, will have a decisive sway in selection of candidates in the next assembly polls which are just around nine months away.

    The first step of the exercise of candidates selection will happen in over next two months, when the performance reports of each individual sitting legislator will be prepared. The performance reports will be prepared based on the feedback about individual legislator’s performance from independent agencies, party organisation and most importantly booth level party workers.

    The booth level committees will also list the best alternative candidate in place of a non-performer sitting MLAs. Based on feedback about every legislator, the sitting MLAs will be graded as Excellent, Good and Average.

    Those, who will graded as Excellent will not only be fielded again by the party in 2022 polls, but also act as local star campaigners on seats of neighborhood. Those graded as good will also be repeated, but only stay confined to their individual seats, while those graded as average will be asked to perform in six months or perish,” a senior BJP organisation leader told The New Indian Express.

    According to informed sources, the idea to give more power to booth level party workers in candidate selection isn’t only aimed at their empowerment, but also to address the discontent prevailing among grassroot workers over the candidate selection in the recently concluded panchayat polls.

    Holding panchayat polls just 10-12 months before the assembly polls has divided the party workers on Ground Zero on caste and other lines. Rendering them more power in selecting candidates for 2022 polls is likely to address the discontent among them and motivate them to work together.

    Once the legislators are aware that booth level workers will have considerable clout in candidate selection, then they will work more closely with the party’s last possible workers in the coming months.

    In the 2017 assembly polls, the saffron party had returned to power after a decade and half with a monstrous 312 seats majority, but internal surveys ahead of next polls don’t paint a rosy picture for the ruling party in the next elections 

    The recent visits of party’s in-charge for the state Radha Mohan Singh and national organisation general secretary BL Santosh have marked the beginning of party’s organisation leaders from centre and master strategists spadework on ground in the politically crucial state.

  • BJP expels hooch tragedy accused from party; NSA to be invoked against five arrested

    By PTI
    ALIGARH: The BJP on Monday expelled Rishi Sharma, the alleged kingpin in the hooch tragedy case, from the party.

    District president of BJP Rishipal Pal Singh has cancelled Rishi Sharma’s primary membership, a party press release said.

    Aligarh Police has started the process of charging all the five main accused including Sharma, who was arrested on Sunday, under the stringent National Security Act and the Gangster Act, Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani said.

    The accused are being interrogated and are expected to reveal the entire network of the liquor mafia, police sources said.

    They said Rishi Sharma was in disguise and was hiding among a group of sadhus at an ashram at Garhmukteshwar near Hapur to evade the police.

    Police had managed to trace his whereabouts from the video footage of one of his close associates with whom he was last seen when the news of the liquor tragedy, which has claimed at least 35 lives, started trickling on the night of May 27.

    During the past week, police raided the premises of several of Sharma’s associates in different states including Himachal Pradesh.

    After they traced him to Garhmukteshwar Ashram on Saturday evening, a police party rushed there only to discover that he had escaped.

    With the help of some informers, he was tracked down at the Aligarh-Bulandshahr border where he was ultimately nabbed after a manhunt lasting nine days.

  • Focus on vaccination rather than fighting with Twitter: NCP to Centre

    Twitter said as per rules, the blue badge and verified status could be automatically removed from an account if it is incomplete or inactive for six months.

  • No interval in Rahul Gandhi vs BJP verbal battles

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took a dig at the Narendra Modi government, for “fighting for the blue tick” and leaving the people to become “aatmanirbhar” (self-reliant) to get Covid-19 vaccines.

    “The Modi government is fighting for the blue tick. If you want a Covid vaccine, then be self-reliant,” he said in a sarcastic tweet in Hindi. His remark comes a day after outrage over the removal of the ‘blue tick’ from the personal Twitter accounts of Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and top RSS functionaries, including Mohan Bhagwat. They were eventually restored.

    BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said doing politics on Twitter is Gandhi’s “biggest platform”. 

    ​Patra said the government has done an admirable job in spearheading such a big inoculation programme and providing free ration to the poor.

  • Nothing can be achieved by killing political activists: Mehbooba Mufti

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday asserted that nothing can be achieved by killing political activists like BJP councillor Rakesh Pandita and said such incidents only defame the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Pandita was shot dead by militants in the Tral area of Pulwama district on Wednesday. “It was unfortunate. We condemn those who killed him and nothing can be achieved by such things. In fact, it defames the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mufti told reporters in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. She said the entire Union Territory has to bear the brunt of such incidents.

    Asked about the possibility of the government conducting the Amarnath Yatra amidst the Covid pandemic, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the decision on allowing the annual pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas was for the Centre to take.

    She also criticised the police over reports of the booking of a 15-year-old boy under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in north Kashmir’s Bandipora.

    “They (Centre) do not listen to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Had they listened, they would not have booked a 15-year-old under UAPA. They do whatever they want to do.

    “On one hand, there is Covid and it is difficult for people to come out of their homes, but on the other hand, if they want to have the yatra, who will tell them (not to have it)? They are the decision makers, they do whatever pleases them,” Mufti said.

    She, however, added that the “government of India has to take a decision on the yatra”.

    Meanwhile, in a tweet, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief said the booking of the 15-year-old boy under UAPA “is yet another example of institutionalised tyranny”.

    “Booking a 15-year-old under UAPA is yet another example of institutionalised tyranny. Not being satisfied with converting Kashmir into an open-air prison where dissent is crushed this regime is now going after children. Does anyone in the country care?” she wrote on Twitter.

    Mufti was referring to reports of police in Bandipora booking a 15-year-old boy for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at a funeral.

  • Farmers set fire to copies of Centre’s farm laws in parts of Punjab, Haryana    

    By Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: Farmers set fire to copies of the Centre’s three farm laws on Saturday near the residences and offices of BJP leaders in Punjab and Haryana as they observed ‘Sampoorna Kranti Diwas’ to mark the day of the promulgation of the farm ordinances last year.   At various places in both Punjab and Haryana, farmers carrying black flags raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government for not scrapping these laws which, they said will destroy the farming community.

    At Phagwara in Punjab, farmers assembled near the GT Road and marched towards the residence of Union minister Som Parkash at Urban Estate and burnt copies of the farm laws. The Punjab Police barricaded the road leading to Prakash’s house to prevent protesters from reaching there. Parkash was not at home at the time of the protest. The farmers also held a protest near Prakash’s residence in Mohali.

    Members of various farmers organisations burn copies of the three farm laws outside the residence of Punjab BJP spokesman Bhupesh Aggarwal in Patiala | PTI

    In Hoshiarpur, farmers took out a protest march from local Gurdwara Singh Sabha to the local BJP office at Shastri market where they then burned copies of the legislation. Protests were also at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali, Abohar, Barnala, Nawanshahr, and Patiala.

    In neighbouring Haryana, the police lathi-charged farmers in Panchkula as they blocked the Zirakpur-Kalka highway. They were earlier stopped by the police as they marched towards Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta’s residence. In Gurugram, the farmers blocked the main road in front of a BJP MLAs’ office. In Ambala, farmers held a demonstration near  the residence of Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij.

  • MP BJP leader holds birthday party in Indore Covid-19 vaccine centre

    By PTI
    INDORE: The video of a BJP leader celebrating her birthday by cutting a cake in a vaccination centre in Indore in Madhya Pradesh along with her supporters on Saturday went viral on social media, following which authorities promised action.

    Madhuri Jaiswal, BJP president of Indore’s Ward number 58, however, claimed she had only gone to review the centre’s working, but could not refuse when one of her supporters brought a cake to celebrate her birthday.

    “Some young worker came forward with a cake saying my supporters wanted to celebrate my birthday.

    How could I refuse them? Though I did not want to celebrate as one of my family members was cremated today, I had to do it for the sake of supporters,” Jaiswal claimed.

    “I apologise if I have done anything wrong,” the BJP leader further said.

    Meanwhile, District Immunisation Officer Praveen Jadia said the video showed those involved in the birthday celebrations did not maintain social distancing and some were not wearing masks either.

    “I have informed the authorities for action against the violators,” Jadia said.