NEW DELHI: Leaders of eight opposition parties held an anti-government protest at the Parliament compound on Thursday, demanding GST fees. Congress the leaders were absent from the protest.
At a press conference after the protest, Trinamool Congress (TMC) deputy and national spokesman Derek O’Brien said the largest opposition party was not invited to the agitation.
TMC leaders, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena participated. at the protest.
“It is becoming increasingly clear to us that in Parliament, regional parties are finding it easier to coordinate with each other to develop strategies. Congress can no longer decide the issue and then the opposition’s dose of strategy. They cannot do something in the states and seek support in Parliament, “O’Brien said.
The protest comes ahead of a scheduled debate on the goods and services tax (GST) in Rajya Sabha, which the government agreed to at the insistence of opposition parties at an informal meeting chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday for the night.
At a meeting of the GST Council on August 27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had acknowledged that states are likely to face a GST income gap of Rs 3 lakh crore this year as the economy may contract due to Covid-19, which she called an unforeseen “act of God”. States were asked to borrow to cover the shortfall.
When asked why Congress was not invited to the protest, sources from regional parties said parties such as TRS and AAP did not feel comfortable sharing space with the country’s main opposition party.
At a recent meeting of chief ministers organized by the president of Congress Sonia Gandhi, CM Delhi and AAP Coordinator Arvind Kejriwal and CM K Telangana Chandrashekar Rao (from TRS) were not invited.
The protest that lasted around 15 minutes saw leaders such as Akhilesh Yadav, Supriya Sule, Manoj Jha, Sanjay Singh, among others, holding banners and ‘thali’ (plaques) to show what the Center paid to states as GST fees. .
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