Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly BJP MLA Vijender Gupta on Wednesday slammed the Kejriwal government by saying it has created a sort of history since the creation of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha by having the shortest budget session which passed the budget without any Amendment.
On the other hand, Delhi Congress also accused the AAP government of “misguiding” the people on the issue of Value Added Tax (VAT) and said their budget estimate of raising Rs 24,000 crore was “unrealistic”. “The statutory and constitutional provisions were thrown to winds,” said Gupta, adding that the opposition was not given due importance it deserves in a democratic <g data-gr-id="61">set up</g>.
“...VAT collection was Rs 17,925 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 18,289 in 2014-15 showing a growth of around 2 <g data-gr-id="29">per cent</g>. Now the government has given a collection projection of Rs 24,000 crore, which is around 31 <g data-gr-id="28">per cent</g> growth. This increase from 2 per cent to 31 per cent is an unrealistic one,” said Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee.
Before the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised that if elected, his government would ensure that VAT rates in Delhi were the lowest in the country, but now he is talking about raising VAT collection without raising rates which <g data-gr-id="34">is</g> nothing but an attempt to grab “media headlines”.
Delhi Assembly had on Tuesday passed the first budget of the AAP government which did not announce any hike in VAT.