By IANS,
Lucknow : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would rationalise VAT (Value Added Tax) rates across the country if voted to power at the centre in next year’s general elections, its president Rajnath Singh announced Tuesday.
Addressing a rally of traders, christened as ‘Hunkar Rally’, here at the Chowk Stadium, Rajnath Singh said: “Unlike other states, the rate of VAT is considerably high in Uttar Pradesh.”
The excess hike in the VAT rate is affecting traders across Uttar Pradesh, and they are not able to compete with their counterparts from other states where the VAT rate is a mere four percent, Singh said.
“When the BJP will form its government under the leadership of L.K. Advani, the party would rationalise the VAT rate all over the country, giving equal opportunity to traders of every state to prosper,” Rajnath Singh maintained.
Singh accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of harassing traders in the name of VAT. “For its vested interest, the BSP government increased the rate of VAT from four percent to 12.5 percent. Due to this, the traders are feeling the brunt of the Mayawati government.”
Singh called upon the traders to wage a war against the BSP government and announced that the BJP will carry out massive demonstrations from Dec 19 across the state if its demand for reducing VAT to four percent is not met.
Attacking the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Singh said, “The Congress-led central government has miserably failed to contain inflation and counter global recession.”
Despite having three economists, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the UPA government has failed to devise ways to counter global recession and inflation, he added.
“When we (BJP) were at the centre, the inflation rate was 3-3.5 per cent while the growth rate had crossed 8 per cent. However, owing to wrong policies of the UPA, inflation has now increased considerably.”
Holding that the BJP is the sole party that can rescue the country from inflation and global recession, Singh added: “We showed how recession and inflation can be checked during the time of (then prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”