Chandigarh: Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann today resigned as the AAP’s Punjab chief, a day after party supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s apology to SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia drew flak from state unit leaders.

Mann announced his decision to resign on Twitter which read:

“I m resigning as a president of AAP Punjab … But my fight against drug mafia and all kind of corruption in Punjab will continue as an ‘Aam Aadmi’of Punjab,” he tweeted.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal had yesterday tendered an apology for levelling charges of involvement in drugs trade against former Punjab minister Majithia.

In his apology, Kejriwal said he had learnt that his allegations were unfounded.

(PTI)

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and was set to move a no-confidence motion against the government over its refusal to grant special category status to the state, party leaders said.

TDP Rajya Sabha MP Y.S. Chowdary told IANS: “Yes our party (TDP) has pulled out of the alliance with the NDA.”

Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu took these decisions during a teleconference with politburo members, senior party leaders and MPs on Friday.

Immediately after the decision, TDP, which has 16 members in the Lok Sabha, submitted a notice to the Speaker to move the no-confidence motion.

Party MP Thota Narasimham told reporters that they were collecting signatures of 54 MPs, which is required to move the no-trust motion.

On March 8, the TDP had pulled its two Ministers — Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y.S. Chowdary — out of the Narendra Modi government but had stopped short of walking out of the alliance.

Raju held the Civil Aviation Ministry while Chowdary was the Minister of State for Science and Technology.

The TDP is the first party to leave the coalition since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.

Naidu decided to write a letter to Bharatiya Janata Party national President Amit Shah, informing him of the circumstances which forced TDP to exit the NDA.

The TDP President told the politburo members that he would also write to other constituents of the NDA to explain why he joined the front four years ago and what made the party to pull out.

Naidu had said on Thursday that the TDP was ready to support a no-confidence motion moved by any party.

However, during the teleconference on Friday Naidu said that the party should move a motion on its own instead of supporting the one being moved by their rival YSR Congress Party.

The TDP chief said if the TDP backs the no-confidence motion moved by a party whose leader is facing serious charges this would send a wrong signal to the people.

Naidu told politburo members that the TDP would seek support of other parties for the no-confidence motion.

The TDP leaders alleged that YSR Congress was not sincere in the no-confidence motion as its notice had signatures of only five MPs.

During the teleconference, Naidu lashed out at the BJP and accused it of using YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Jana Sena party President Pawan Kalyan to weaken the TDP.

He said both Jagan and Pawan had secret understanding with the BJP. He said while Jagan entered into the secret deal to save himself in several corruption cases, Pawan was targeting TDP instead of pulling up BJP and Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the commitments made to Andhra Pradesh.

TDP had been expressing its unhappiness with the BJP over the last few weeks for not fulfilling the commitments made by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out of it in 2014.

Its main demand was special status which would have ensured a large infusion of central funds to help the state tide over the revenue deficit and facilitate development of new state capital Amaravati.

(IANS)

The Goods and Services Tax is one of the most complex taxes in the world with the second highest tax rate, the World Bank has said.

The GST was implemented by the Union Government on July 1 last year. GST has the second highest tax rate in the world, the World Bank has concluded after studying 115 countries that have similar indirect tax regimes.

The Goods and Services Tax was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government with five tax slabs that are 0 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, and 28 per cent.

Currently, around 49 countries have a single slab tax structure, while 28 countries use two slabs and there are only five countries, including India, which use five or more slabs. The other countries are Italy, Luxembourg, Pakistan and Ghana.

The World Bank’s biannual publication, ‘India Development Update: India’s Growth Story’ expects the economy to clock a growth rate of 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal.

“High compliance costs are also arising because the prevalence of multiple tax rates implies a need to classify inputs and outputs based on the applicable tax rate. Along with the need to apply the correct rate, firms are required to match invoices between their outputs and inputs to be eligible for full input tax credit, which increases compliance costs further,” it added.

The World Bank report further says accelerating the growth rate would also require continued integration into the global economy.

“Key to success is a policy design that minimizes compliance burden, for example by minimizing the number of different rates and limiting exemptions, with simple laws and procedures, an appropriately structured and resourced administration, compliance strategies based on a balanced mix of education and assistance programs and risk-based audit programs,” it said.

“The Indian economy is likely to recover from the impact of demonetisation and the GST, and growth should revert slowly to a level consistent with its proximate factors — that is, to about 7.5 per cent a year,” the report said.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s tally may drop by 100-110 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019, if the current trends and the results of the recent bypolls are an indicator, its ally Shiv Sena said in a gloomy prediction here on Friday.

“The twin wins by the Samajwadi Party in BJP bastions like Gorakhpur and Phulpur has created panic in the BJP camp even as they were busy celebrating the party’s victory in a small state like Tripura last week,” the Sena said in a tough edit in the party mouthpieces, ‘Saamana’ (Marathi) and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’ (Hindi).

Though the BJP claims that by-elections do not reflect the mood of the country, ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over, the party has lost nearly nine seats in Lok Sabha by-polls, slashing its tally from 282 to around 272 – the half-way mark in the 543-strong Lower House, the editorial said.

“It was barely a year ago that the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, creating a record by winning 325 seats. The saffron-clad Yogi Adityanath, who has never lost the Gorakhpur seat since 1991, became the state Chief Minister. So despite the huge popularity they enjoyed, why was their citadel shattered,” the Sena wondered.

It could be said that in 2014, there was a huge “wave” of popularity and water had blocked the eyes and ears of the masses, leading to (BJP’s) victory, but, now the wave has receded and people can “see” everything clearly, the edit said.

The BJP is now blaming “poor voter turnout”, “lack of enthusiasm” or “a deal between the Samajwadi Party with Bahujan Samaj Party” for its rout in the two critical seats in Uttar Pradesh.

“Since 2014, how many deals has the BJP entered into for power… What about Naresh Agrawal, who was inducted in BJP with such fanfare? In Tripura, the BJP could win only after the entire Congress and Trinamool Congress ‘merged’ with it” the Sena pointed out.

Referring to the polls, the Sena said the SP candidates secured big margins in both Gorakhpur and Phulpur, indicating that the people went out of the way to defeat the BJP in both seats which were won with huge margins of two-three lakh votes in 2014.

On the winning spree of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar’s Jehanabad and Araria, the Sena said some BJP leaders were living in a fool’s paradise as they attributed it to “a sympathy wave” for the jailed RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“Lalu is in jail for corruption… and that could be a politics of vendetta. Despite that if he can get ‘sympathy’, then it’s a big blow to both Nitish Kumar and Modi… The outcome has thrown down the BJP from the sky to the ground,” the Sena said.

“Amidst all this, it is clear now, that in 2019, the BJP’s numbers will not be 280, but it will plummet by at least 100-110 seats. The elections are not being fought in Russia, America, Canada, France or Israel, but in India. So they (BJP) should keep their feet on the ground here,” the Sena warned.

(IANS)