Siddaramaiah slams PM Modi as ‘deceptive’ over new GST reforms
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Mysuru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for claiming credit for the new GST reforms that came into effect on Monday, calling the PM’s actions “deceptive.”
Speaking at the inauguration of the Dasara food festival at Maharaja's College Grounds in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah questioned whether Modi, who collected excessive GST for eight years, would return all of it to Indians.
Accusing the Prime Minister of deceiving the public, the CM said, “It was Modi who implemented GST, it was Modi who increased GST rates, and now it is Modi who is patting himself on the back. We opposed GST hikes to 18 per cent and 28 per cent. The very people who collected it all these years are now taking credit. See how cleverly they are deceiving Indians. You should not fall for this.”
Meanwhile, Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge criticised the recent GST reforms, calling them “too little and too late.”
“It has taken eight years for Vishwaguru (Modi) to realise that they were doing things wrong. Mr Rahul Gandhi had been highlighting this, calling it the Gabbar Singh Tax, and now they have woken up to it,” Kharge told reporters in Bengaluru.
Kharge added that over the past eight years, these policies had harmed numerous MSMEs, SMEs, and small shops, contributing to unemployment—an issue the government needs to acknowledge.
Questioning the public celebrations over GST relaxations, he said, “I don't understand why everybody is celebrating a government merely doing its job. Why are they thanking Mr Modi? He is not giving money from his pocket; it is taxpayers’ money being returned. Yet the government expects gratitude.”
Dismissing BJP’s promotion of the reforms, Kharge added, “I don’t see what GST Utsav, Dasara bonus, Diwali bumper—what is this nonsense? Over the last eight years, who pushed the common man and the poor into the well? Now they are offering a ladder and expecting thanks. It is too little, too late.”
With PTI inputs