Amid discontent among some of the ruling coalition members in Karnataka, state BJP President BS Yeddyurappa today claimed several leaders from both Congress and JDS were ready to join his party.

Addressing the BJP state executive meet in Bengaluru, the leader of opposition in the assembly also termed the JDS-Congress partnership an “unholy coalition” and the budget scheduled to be presented by it on July 5 as a “minority budget”.

He asked his party men to work towards ensuring the BJP wins 25 of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 national elections.

“Several Congress and JDS leaders are ready to join the BJP in the current political situation. I appeal to leaders to work towards strengthening the party by bringing in honest and capable people without thinking that new inductees would affect their own chances,” he said.

“Those who are ready to come to the BJP, we have to go to them personally, to their houses and talk to them and bring them to the party fold and strengthen the party for Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

Earlier too, when there was widespread dissatisfaction in both Congress and JDS following the cabinet expansion, Mr Yeddyurappa had claimed that several “disgruntled” leaders from the ruling coalition were eager to join his party.

Mr Yeddyurappa’s recent Ahmedabad trip to meet party national president Amit Shah had fuelled speculation that several dissatisfied Congress MLAs were in touch with him and ready to switch over, which might again try its hand to form a government in the state.

However, he himself had sought to end the speculation, saying he had gone to invite Mr Shah for today’s state unit executive meeting.

Mr Yeddyurappa had resigned as chief minister without facing a vote of confidence in the assembly last month as the BJP lacked the numbers for a majority.

The BJP today held its first state executive meeting after the assembly elections in the state in May this year.

It was attended by party General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, Union Ministers Ananth Kumar, Ramesh Jigajinagi, and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, among others.

Explaining the circumstances under which he had to resign as Chief Minister that led to the formation of Congress-JDS coalition government, Mr Yeddyurappa said although legislators from different political parties were ready to join BJP, “because of paucity of time, we had to face the setback”.

He accused Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of making “false” promises in the JDS manifesto.

Listing out pre-poll promises of the JDS, including the farm loan waiver among others, he called on BJP leaders and workers to go to people with Congress and JDS manifestos and inform them that both parties have not walked the talk.

Terming the the budget to be presented on July 5 as “budget of 37 MLAs” and “minority budget”, Mr Yeddyurappa pointed out that the Congress Legislature Party Leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah has opposed the budget.

“There is confusion between Congress and JDS, so the budget they will present will not have any sanctity,” he claimed.

He said, “This is the budget with the support of just 37 (JDS) MLAs. There is no Congress support to it…there is no sanctity to it. Let’s wait and watch what stand the Congress takes in the assembly,” he added.

Discordant voices have emerged from the Congress and the JDS on a host of issues, including presentation of the budget, as Siddaramaiah, who held finance portfolio in the previous government, had recently said there was no need for a fresh budget and insisted that a supplementary budget would suffice.

Speaking about differences between the Congress and JDS, Mr Yeddyurappa told his partymen that the two parties were fighting among themselves and their government was likely to fall.

“…(Hence) let us not take sides. There are no signs of this unholy coalition government continuing. So as a responsible opposition both inside and outside the assembly, we will have to continue our fight for the cause of people,” he said.

He also termed as “irresponsible” Mr Kumaraswamy’s statement that he was not at the mercy of people of Karnataka, but of the Congress party.

Noting that BJP and its workers had worked with confidence of winning 130-135 seats in the May 12 assembly elections, Mr Yeddyurappa said, “Even when there was pro-BJP wave across the state, because of our own mistakes, we could not win 130-135 seats. This is a painful matter.”

The Two election watchdogs in a report here on Friday said that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, including seven ministers face criminal charges on different cases, said

The other six ministers include Venkatrao Nadagouda, B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, D.K. Shivakumar, D.C. Thammanna, N. Mahesh and Ramesh L. Jarkiholi.

The report by the Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was based only analysis of the poll affidavits belonging to 26 of 27 cabinet ministers, save Women and Child Development Minister Jayamala, the lone woman minister, whose affidavit was not available, ADR said.

It has been reported that seven out of the 26 ministers including Kumaraswamy have declared criminal cases against them, while four ministers, including him, face serious criminal charges.

Kumaraswamy faces several criminal charges, including forgery for the purpose of cheating, causing the disappearance of evidence and other charges relating to criminal breach of trust.

Twenty-five of the 26 ministers are crorepatis, as per the asset declarations in their poll affidavits, with Shivakumar being the richest with total assets worth Rs 840 crore.

Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer T.M. Vijay Bhaskar will be Karnataka’s new Chief Secretary, replacing K. Ratna Prabha who will be retiring on superannuation on Saturday, an official notification said.

A 1983-batch officer of the Karnataka cadre, Bhaskar, 57, was earlier the Additional Chief Secretary to the state government.

He was the former Bengaluru civic body’s administrator.

Prabha, 59, was on a three-month extension since April 1 due to the Assembly poll on May 12 in the southern state.

She was the first Dalit woman to become Chief Secretary in Karnataka and the third woman officer to hold the top administrative post.

On July 1 last year, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had shaken up the real estate sector, already reeling from the after-effects of the two jolts of demonetisation and the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA).

But developers say the sector has somewhat overcome these setbacks.

Sector players say the benefits of GST — frequently termed as the “most radical tax reform in India’s history” — mostly lie in the long-termed macro-economic scenario while loopholes are many in the current scheme of things.

Are the consumers getting their share of benefit? Not so prominently yet. But all are hopeful of a brighter future.

A major problem the real estate market is facing is that of a higher tax rate on under-construction projects — 18 per cent — compared to the previous service tax of five per cent. However, the effective tax rate comes down to 12 per cent as a rebate of one-third is given as land abatement.

“The segment, which is really struggling, is the under-construction one in the medium or luxury range, which has the maximum supply available in the market right now,” Ankit Kansal, MD of 360 Realtors, a consultancy firm, told IANS.

“People started waiting for completion certificates or occupancy certificates before moving into these projects, because nobody wanted to pay 12 per cent over and above the cost of the project,” he added.

GST is not levied on ready-to-move-in properties and hence customers wait for the completion certificate to avoid paying the tax.

According to realty group EKTA World’s Chairman Ashok Mohanani, the tax percentage was set “much higher than what was anticipated”. The higher tax rate created a setback for both end-users and investors, Mohanani said.

The affordable housing segment, however, received a breather after the government in January slashed the effective tax rate on houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana that provides credit-linked subsidy scheme of up to 8 per cent.

Although, a section of the market is content and says the affordable segment has grown since, some developers feel it should be slashed to the previous level of five per cent.

Another issue that should be addressed, developers feel, is that of land abatement.

The government gives a concession of one-third of the 18 per cent tax on a project, as land prices do not attract GST. However, realty players say the consideration that cost of land amounts to 33 per cent or one third of the total cost of project could be a flawed generalisation as land prices vary from place to place.

“Even though rebate is availed, the ratio is very low, thus making the flats expensive,” said Dhaval Ajmera, Director of Ajmera Group.

According to House of Hiranandani’s Chairman and Managing Director, Surendra Hiranandani, the land cost in the major metropolitan cities of the country is “almost 50-60 per cent of the total costs”, way higher than the government’s take of 33 per cent.

A solution to this problem, said Ankur Dhawan, the Chief Investment Officer of PropTiger.com, is to either bring land under GST or reduce GST for high-priced properties.

Knight Frank India’s Executive Director for north, Mudassir Zaidi, said the other impact of GST was that it brought about a change in the manner in which home-buyers dealt with the developers. GST brought in a concept of Input Tax Credit, that the developers can set off and they are supposed to pass on the benefit to the consumers.

“However, projects which were incomplete where they could not set-off earlier taxes like VAT (Value Added Tax) and service tax, etc., were not able to give input tax credit. Thus the most impacted projects were the ones that were incomplete and did not have an OC (Occupancy Certificate),” Zaidi said.

Kansal from 360 Realtors said there is no clear-cut method to pass on this benefit of the input tax credit to the customers.

“It has become very ambiguous. While one developer was giving a six per cent input rebate to the consumer, another gave four per cent,” he said, adding: “So, it’s completely discretionary on the developer… what he thinks or his finance team thinks.”

According to PropTiger.com’s Dhawan, many developers have not yet passed the full benefit of input tax credit to customers, eventually increasing the cost for buyers.

“Stamp duty” or the “registration cost” is another thorn in the side for the sector and property market players believe it should either be included in GST or abolished for good.

Surender Singh, Director of GLS Group, said: “Stamp duty should be abolished, which is around 6-8 per cent on total consideration.”

L.Badri Narayanan, Partner at a Delhi-based law firm, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, was of the opinion that, “the complex issues of joint development, slum rehabilitation schemes, transfer of development rights, free supplies, cancellation cases among others continue to make GST a challenge for the sector”.

The property sector was severely hit after the implementation of GST, but now market participants feel it has somewhat revived.

“There is a slight improvement in the market, but not up to the mark and it is very difficult to say that the real estate market is going to improve in the near future…2-3 years,” Singh said.

Despite all the shortcomings, developers believe that in the long run the disruptive tax regime would be positive for the market, with the previously unorganised segment now getting streamlined. GST deserves its share of credit, along with RERA.

The most notable positive impact of GST on the sector actually has been the “non-implementation of GST” on ready-to-move-in properties, keeping it tax-free and in turn leading to rise in sales.

“The new tax system has brought in transparency to the end-user, therefore people have accepted it whole-heartedly,” said Elan Group’s Director, Ravish Kapoor, adding that it has brought a paradigm shift in the overall realty fraternity by bringing in accountability in all transactions.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE, said as the sector gets more streamlined due to GST and other reforms like RERA, the investor and consumer sentiment should further boost the ecosystem in future.

Even as various formulas are being worked out by the opposition at the national level for taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019, including forming alliances which may not be the same in every state, the first test as to whether such khichdi or hodge-podge groups can be politically effective will be the lifespan of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government in Karnataka.

If it fails to survive at least till the next general election, then all the hopes of the non-BJP parties coming together against the BJP will evaporate. It is unfortunate for those planning a confrontation with the BJP that the current signs about the longevity of the H.D. Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka are not very reassuring.

Having been uncharacteristically magnanimous about letting Kumaraswamy of the JD-S become the Chief Minister although he is the junior partner in the coalition, the Congress now appears unable to accept the reality of its No. 2 position despite winning 78 seats in the 224-member assembly to the JD-S’s 37.

Hence, the current differences between the two parties over the presentation of a full budget, which is what the Chief Minister wants, apparently to leave his personal stamp on the fiscal policy. The Congress, however, objects to it since the former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, had presented the state’s budget earlier and evidently doesn’t want his plans to be summarily brushed aside.

It is also no secret that relations between the present and former chief ministers have not been cordial ever since Siddaramaiah crossed over from the JD-S to the Congress on realising that Kumaraswamy was the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s choice as his successor in the party.

Since there have been tussles between the two parties over ministerial berths as well, it is not surprising that Bengaluru was rife not long ago with rumours about the BJP toppling the Kumaraswamy government. It goes without saying that any impression about the instability of the ruling alliance will enable the BJP to mock the national opposition’s efforts to combine against it.

As it is, ever since the Janata Party’s collapse in the late 1970s, the idea has gained ground about the inherent fragility of coalitions at the national level although they have been quite successful in states like Kerala and earlier in West Bengal. In New Delhi, however, neither the Janata Party of Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram of 1977, nor the Janata Dal of V.P. Singh, Devi Lal and Chandrashekhar of 1989, could last for any length of time

The machinations of the Congress were one reason for the short lifespan of these combines. It was the same in the 1990s when the Congress brought down the H.D. Deve Gowda government at the Centre and paved the way after I.K. Gujral’s brief interregnum for the BJP to come to power.

Perhaps the time has come for the Congress to show that it has got over its self-perception of being the natural party of governance in Lutyens Delhi and let others also have their days in the sun. Whether or not such a change in the party’s outlook has taken place will become clear by its role in Karnataka.

It is a test of leadership not only for the Congress as an organisation, but also for Rahul Gandhi, who has to show that he is not like his grandmother, Indira, or uncle, Sanjay, who conspired to seal the Janata Party’s fate in 1979, or like his father, Rajiv, who pulled the rug from under V.P. Singh’s feet with Chandrashekhar’s help in 1990.

Since by his own admission, he aspires to be the Prime Minister if the Congress wins a sizeable number of seats, he has first to show his capability of controlling his notoriously fractious party and then of accommodating his allies. As far as groupism is concerned, Karnataka presents less of a challenge to the Congress president than, say, Madhya Pradesh where the number of heavyweights in the party is larger — Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia — but Rahul’s success or failure in Karnataka will send the required message to the other states as well.

If he can ensure a measure of calm in Karnataka, it will signal his arrival as a person who has it in him to lead the 133-year-old Grand Old Party although it is known to be well beyond its prime at the moment. Unlike Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, where the Congress has been out of power for a decade and a half and, therefore, is in a chastened frame of mind, Karnataka is different because it was in power on its own till recently and is now in office with an ally. The attitudes and ambitions of the local Congress leaders are more assertive as a result.

The challenge for Rahul, therefore, will be greater than what he has faced so far. Moreover, it will serve no worthwhile purpose for him to depend on Sonia Gandhi to make any of the restive members fall in line. He has to demonstrate that he alone is at the helm. However, Rahul’s task will be more difficult than either what Sonia Gandhi experienced when the Congress unexpectedly won the 2004 election or what Rajiv Gandhi faced when he became the Prime Minister after Indira’s assassination in 1984.

The Congress on Friday said the people are losing trust in the banking system and the Indian rupee has become the worst-performing currency in the world under the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Addressing the media here, Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh said: “We request him (Modi) to answer the same question he raised to the Congress when it was in power. Now he should answer all these questions from all stages and forums.”

Attacking Modi over record fall in the value of rupee, he said: “When he (Modi) was in the opposition, he had said after coming to power he would ensure that the value of one dollar becomes Rs 40. If we look at the condition of rupee now, it is about to cross Rs 70, worst in the past 70 years.

“It is under Modi’s rule that the rupee has collapsed to an all-time low value against dollar. The Indian rupee is the worst performing currency in the world right now.”

Singh recalled that Modi would also say that he would bring black money back, but the opposite had happened.

“Modi had also promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of poor by bringing back the black money worth USD 800,000 million from foreign countries, but now the data shows that this year the deposit in the Swiss Bank has gone up by 50 percent. It is the second highest in our history, the highest was in 2004 when the BJP was in power last time,” he said.

“Some Indians, including Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, took away the money of the poor. The non-performing assets under the NDA rule in past four years has crossed Rs 10,00,000 crore, which can cross Rs 15,00,000 crore in next two years. People are losing trust in banks under their rule,” he said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of black money and said he had promised to bring back all illegal money stashed abroad but his government was now virtually saying that there was no illegal money in Swiss banks.

In a tweet, Gandhi referred to Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks earlier in the day about the latest data released by the Swiss National Bank that showed a rise in Indian deposits last year.

Gandhi said that the Modi government had carried out demonetisation to supposedly curb black money but its stance now was totally different.

“In 2014, he said: I will bring back all the “BLACK” money in Swiss Banks and put Rs 15 lakh in each Indian bank account. In 2016, he said: Demonetisation will cure India of “BLACK” money. In 2018, he says: 50 per cent jump in Swiss Bank deposits by Indians, is “WHITE” money. No “BLACK” (money) in Swiss banks!” the Congress chief said.

Goyal had maintained that under an agreement signed by the Modi government with Switzerland, all data from January 1, 2018, will be made available to the Indian government.

He was responding to a query about the data showing a rise in Indian deposits last year in Switzerland.

“From what I understand (from media reports) 40 per cent increase in foreign remittances are on account of the Reserve Bank’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme brought during the previous (UPA) government under which a resident Indian can remit $250,000 per year,” the Minister said.

“Then, there are also non-resident deposits… rest assured, if any wrongdoing is revealed, we will take action. With the various measures of this government against black money, Swiss bank deposits have been decreasing,” he added.

The data showed that after falling for three years in succession, money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose 50 per cent to Swiss Francs 1.02 billion in 2017 over the previous year.

Deputy CM Parameshwara said that the coordination committee of the JD-S and Congress will be discussing on the proposals for inclusion in the state budget for 2018-19 Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will present in the assembly on July 5.

The five-member committee which includes Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara, and K.C. Venugopal, Kumaraswamy and Danish Ali of Janata Dal-Secular.

Addressing the press, Parameshwara “As Ali is the convenor, he will decide on the time and venue of the meeting in consultation with the committee’s members,”

The committee will go through the report of the sub-committee set up by the coalition government on June 14 to draft a common minimum programme (CMP) from the poll manifestoes of both the coalition parties.

The five-member sub-committee has former Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily, state Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar of the Congress and Public Works Department Minister H.D. Revanna of the JD-S and Chief Minister’s Economic Adviser S. Subramanya.

“The sub-committee has recommended some of the promises made in both the manifestos, including socio-economic and welfare schemes and farm loan waiver as part of the CMP,” said Parameshwara.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that 42 lakh senior citizens had voluntarily given up their railway concession in the past nine months while 1.25 crore families had surrendered their gas subsidy.

Modi said an environment of honesty has been fostered in the country and more and more people are coming forward to contribute to the nation building by voluntarily giving up on various subsidies and concessions.

He said with his one request from the Red Fort to the well-off citizens to give up LPG subsidy, and 1.25 crore families gave up the benefit.

“Here (in case of railway concessions) I had not announced anything. But the railways themselves on their form asked people if they would want to give up their senior citizen concessions…I am proud to say that in the past eight-nine months, 42 lakh elderly passengers have voluntarily given up their subsidy,” Modi said.

He further said that he had requested the doctors of the country to treat pregnant women free of cost at least once in a month, following which thousands of medical practitioners had come forward. “And 1.25 crore pregnant women have been treated free-of-cost so far,” he said.

The prime minister had called on a doctor working in the private sector to provide free ante-natal services (ANC) on the 9th of every month on a voluntary basis to pregnant women, especially those living in under-served, semi-urban, poor and rural areas during his radio address in 2016.

“This shows the trust of the people on this government is increasing. People have this feeling that the tax we are paying, every single penny is being utilized for the purpose of development,” Modi said after laying the foundation stone of the National Centre for Aging at AIIMS and inaugurating a super specialty and an emergency block at Safdarjung Hospital here today.

Modi said that the vision of his government is not limited to providing modern treatment facilities such as hospitals and medicines and thus a national health policy with an aim to ensure low-cost treatment for every citizen and to eradicate the causes of diseases was introduced.

“Our government has taken healthcare services beyond the boundaries of the health ministry and today the ministries of rural development, drinking water and sanitation, women and child development and Ayush have all got linked with the government’s vision to provide accessible and affordable health to all,” he said.

Modi also talked about the two pillars of the Centre’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat, as part of which 1.5 lakh sub-centers that are being converted into health and wellness centers to provide screening for tuberculosis and leprosy, along with diabetes, hypertension, breast, oral and cervical cancers.

Also, he talked about the National Health Protection Scheme which aims to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually to 10 crore vulnerable families.

Modi said these will highly benefit the poor living in villages and rural areas and more and more states are being linked to the project and private hospitals are being brought on board. “This will be the world’s largest health assurance scheme,” he said.

Reiterating India’s commitment to eradicate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target, Modi said he has faith that the healthcare sector of the country would meet the challenge.

In the past four years, the public healthcare sector has been given a new direction and the continuous policy interventions by the union government have ensured that the poor and the middle-class do not have to wander around for better health services and spend unnecessarily on them.

The National Centre for Ageing, the foundation stone for which was laid by the prime minister today, will provide state-of-the-art clinical care to the elderly population and lay a key role in guiding research in the field of geriatric medicine and related specialities.

The centre will have 200 general ward beds, which will include 20 medical ICU beds. The centre will be developed at a cost of Rs 330 crore and will be completed by February 2020.

During the event at AIIMS, the prime minister also inaugurated a 500-bedded new emergency block and 807-bedded super speciality block at Safdarjung Hospital.

He also dedicated a 300-bed Power Grid Vishram Sadan at AIIMS and a “connection motorable tunnel” between AIIMS, Ansari Nagar and the trauma centre.