Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury takes a dig at Finance Minister Sitharaman

Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday took a dig at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman by using the term 'Nirbala' (powerless) to address her.

"We do have a lot of respect for you, but sometimes we wonder if it wouldn't be more apt to address you as 'Nirbala' Sitharaman instead of Nirmala Sitharaman. She heads the Finance Ministry, but we do not know whether you are even able to speak your mind or not," said Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha.

Chowdhury also targeted the Central government by stating that "this NDA government has become a Non-renewable Delivery Agency because there are just promises here."

Sitharaman was responding to a debate on the reducing the corporate tax in the country during which the comment from Chowdhury came.

Moving the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 for the passage in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman had said the additional fiscal measures were taken to stimulate growth and boost job growth. The bill seeks to replace ordinance by the government.

She said that many countries in South East Asia had reduced their corporate tax to attract investment and cited examples of Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore.

She said due to trade war with the US, there were indications that many multi-national companies wanted to get out of China.

The bill provides for inserting a new provision in the Income Tax Act and says that a company may opt to pay tax at 22 per cent if does not claim any incentive or deduction.