Hyderabad: Attacking the NDA government for relying on pomp and show to hide the reality and hoodwinking the public, former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah questioned the lack of democracy in the country, and termed that the new Parliament building is being unveiled a showcase.
“The BJP, which had stalled the GST law on the grounds that an 18 per cent tax slab would burden the common man and sought its reduction to 14 per cent, now has a 25 per cent tax slab. Is this how the BJP respects Parliament? The government has so far passed 76 ordinances and has rightfully earned the sobriquet of ‘Ordinance Raj’ from intellectuals,” Lakshmaiah said.
The BJP has not bothered to plug the loophole in the anti-defection law and have so far brought down eight state governments where Opposition parties were in power. Is this in the spirit of democracy, he asked.
“They (the BJP government) are making State Bank of India invest 80 per cent share in a joint-venture with the Ambanis. The latter is being promised 50 per cent profit from the venture. Did they allow a discussion in this regard? The discussions are centred on the Sengol that is set to be installed in the new Parliament building,” he added.
Lakshmaiah also questioned the BJP government on its promise to bring back black money as well as job creation, stating, “At the rate of two crore jobs per year, they should have created 18 crore jobs by now. Yet, they wax eloquent about giving 80,000 jobs,” he stated.
On Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s meeting with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, he said, “The meeting is to discuss ways to get out of the liquor scam.”
