Better late than never Narendra ji: Rahul Gandhi targets PM on single slab GST

Better late than never, Narendra ji," was Rahul Gandhi's parting shot as he weighed in on recent comments made by the prime minister on the Goods and Service Tax (GST). This week, Modi said his government was "working towards a position where 99 per cent things will attract the sub-18 per cent GST slab".

For Rahul Gandhi, it was the Congress that had "finally jolted" Modi from "his deep slumber on the Gabbar Singh Tax". Oh yes, the Sholay reference was back. The one that once inspired reactions such as this one.

Rahul Gandhi wasn't done. "Though still drowsy, he [Modi] now wants to implement what he had earlier called the Congress Party’s, 'Grand Stupid Thought'," the Congress boss tweeted today.

Since GST was implemented last year, the



Congress has demanded one 18 per cent tax slab as the standard rate today.

"We are of the opinion of making GST as smooth as possible for the enterprises."

Yesterday, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked if losing assembly elections had caused the Centre to change its stand on single slab GST, and called it a "government of hypocrites".

"Having scrambled the egg needlessly when GST was introduced, Government is trying to unscramble it! Typical of NDA."

"Belated wisdom", was how P Chidambaram, the former Union finance minister, described Modi's remarks. "We should have started with 18 per cent as the standard rate," he said.

The BJP and NDA's governance mantra, he said, was, "Leap before you look."