GST rates cut bowing to demands from Congress-ruled states, says Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the Modi government cut the GST rates bowing to consistent demands from the Congress-ruled states though they knew they would end up losing 70% of revenue from such a move.

It was Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s fearless voice that consistently exposed the flawed GST regime, the CM said, devoting a large part of his speech to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet in Patna to attack the Prime Minister.

“We stood firm because it was about protecting our people from an unjust system. Modi, however, continued to squeeze every drop of sweat and money from ordinary Indians for eight years. Ultimately, he was forced to bow and rationalise GST, but even then, he found a way to fill the Union Government’s coffers through cesses,” Siddaramaiah said.


Modi, he added, has perfected the art of spinning failure into triumph. Every time his government stumbled, the PM dressed it up as a great achievement, he said, while insisting that the Centre agreed to conduct a caste census bowing to demands from the Congress party. Such a census would ensure fair representation of every Indian, he said.

Siddaramaiah claimed success for the Congress party’s welfare guarantee schemes and said the BJP-ruled states were now copying them.

‘VOTE CHORI’

The chief minister accused the BJP of stealing elections through vote-theft, buying MLAs and suppressing the people’s voice.

He credited Rahul Gandhi with exposing ‘vote-chori’ including in Mahadevapura and Aland assembly segments in Karnataka. “His relentless fight against electoral manipulation has inspired every Indian who believes in fair democracy. What was witnessed in Bihar recently with the special intensive revision only showed how low the BJP would go to stick to power.

“We are not just fighting an election. We are fighting to save India. The BJP-RSS combine wants to erase the soul of this nation, but we will not let them,” Siddaramaiah said.