NEW DELHI — Members of Opposition parties in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will hold a joint protest against inflation and GST rates hike near the Gandhi statue in Parliament on Wednesday.
As per the opposition, the revised GST rates have aided inflation and disrupted the household budget.
Meanwhile, AAP member Raghav Chaddha has moved suspension of business notice over discussion on MSP Committee and Tiruchi Siva of DMK on hike of LPG in the Upper House. AAP’s Sanjay Singh has moved notice on GST in the house.
Proceedings in both the Houses were adjourned for the day on Tuesday after the opposition members clamoured for discussion on GST rates hike, price rise, Agnipath scheme and other issues.
Earlier in the day, the Congress had staged a demonstration at the Gandhi statue.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha met, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and other opposition members gave notices under rule 267 for suspension of business to discuss the issues which were rejected.
In Lok Sabha, Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave the adjournment notice to “discuss imposition of 5 per cent GST on essential commodities which would affect every common citizen, especially the poor and to direct the Government to withdraw the decision of levying GST from essential commodities.”
When the ruckus continued unabated, both the Houses were adjourned for the day.
Cruel to raise taxes
Meanwhile, Congress on Wednesday denounced Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for defending the hike in GST rates and questioned the timing saying its “cruel” to hike the rates when CPI is over 7 per cent.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary said: “It is cruel to raise tax rates when CPI inflation is over 7 per cent, WPI inflation is over 15 per cent, unemployment is high, the rupee is depreciating, the current account deficit is widening and inflation is expected to rise world-wide.”
He said: “Branded & labelled is very different from pre-packaged & labelled. The former affects only products of big companies priced higher and bought by middle and upper middle classes. The latter affects small businesses whose products are bought by the lower middle class and the poor. — IANS
