Akhilesh questions BJP on GST collections, seeks clarity on usage of money

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has taken a swipe at the BJP government, asking where the GST collections over the past eight years have gone.

The GST Council, comprising Centre and states, has decided to reduce tax rates on goods and services, from September 22 -- the first day of Navratri.

"The public is asking where the money collected in the name of GST has gone," Yadav wrote, listing possibilities such as whether the total amount would be delivered in cash to people's homes like the "UP BJP government's Mahakumbh model", adjusted in the next insurance premium, credited directly to bank accounts as direct benefit transfer, or deducted from the "Rs 15 lakh" promised earlier by the BJP.

 

In the post late Sunday night, Yadav further asked if the amount would be distributed along with the long-pending promise of subsidised LPG cylinders, paid using funds allegedly received by BJP from companies through "backdoor routes", handed out in cash on the eve of the next election, used to waive school fees for children, or compensated by making medicines and healthcare free for the sick and elderly.

"Or will it simply be added to the BJP's jumlakosh (fund of promises)?" Yadav said in a parting jibe.

In a previous post made after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's GST-related address to the nation on Sunday evening, the former UP chief minister, had said: "Bachat ya chapat (relief or rip-off)".