File photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
Attacking the Congress over the Parliament logjam and stalling the GST Bill, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that the state will run up an annual loss of Rs 20,000 crore if the tax regime is not implemented next fiscal.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Fadnavis said the conduct of the Congress in stalling Parliament session puts a question mark on its national interests.
Mr Fadnavis, who was accompanied by state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve at a press conference in Mumbai, said the BJP will hold protests and demonstrations in all Maharashtra districts on August 16 to highlight the actions of the Congress in not letting Parliament function.
"The party is yet to recover from the devastating Lok Sabha defeat and it can't think beyond the interests of the Gandhi family. By blocking the GST bill, one wonders if the Congress can think of national interest," Mr Fadnavis charged.
"Since the advent of the Modi government, investment climate in the country is beginning to look up and there are signs of economic revival...if that happens, Modi government would walk away with all credit. The Congress does not want that and created hurdles in Parliament functioning.
Non-implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2016 would mean annual loss of Rs 2 lakh crore for the country and Rs 20,000 crore for the state," he said.
"Congress had no credible reasons to hold Parliament and the country to ransom," the chief minister added.
Mr Fadnavis said Maharashtra is a manufacturing as well as a consumer state and as per an amendment by the NDA government, manufacturing states are allowed to levy 1 per cent additional tax.
"Due to this amendment, all states came on board for implementation of GST which the Congress has blocked," he said.
Mr Fadnavis said BJP workers will create a mass awareness campaign against the Congress in the state.
"Even though Congress does not have many MPs, we will go to their constituencies and tell the people how the MPs they have elected are not acting in national interests," Mr Fadnavis said.
He said youth will never forgive the Congress for their "misdeed" of blocking Parliament.
"The party will not be able to continue with their disruptive tactics because if they do so, the numbers will come down from 44 to 4," he said referring the numerical strength of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
Mr Fadnavis charged that during the UPA rule of ten years, Congress looted the exchequer and as Opposition they are doing the same by blocking the GST which can get more investments in the country.
To a question on should Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken the lead to break the deadlock, Fadnavis said the Congress had declared its intention to block the proceedings from day one.
"The Prime Minister had made efforts to resolve the deadlock," he said.
Mr Fadnavis said when BJP was in opposition, it had credible reasons to block Parliament proceedings. "There are direct indictments and despite the logjam, we had helped pass important legislations which were in national interest," he said.