News Tamil Nadu

Stalin’s old tweet on GST comes back to haunt him

September 19, 2021
The Commune

The MK-Stalin led DMK government in Tamil Nadu has expressed its opposition to bring petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

On Friday (September 17), the Tamil Nadu government opposed the idea of bringing fuels under the goods and services tax (GST) by saying the petrol and diesel remain one of the last vestiges of a state’s right to manage its own revenue.

“We are of the general opinion that the State taxation of petrol and diesel remains one of the last vestiges of any state’s right to manage their own revenues, since the advent of GST stripped away most of the small range of rights originally written to the Constitution. We are reluctant to give up any of these few remaining rights and so are fundamentally opposed to bringing these products into the ambit of GST,” the Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan said.

However, CM Stalin when he was Leader of Opposition in 2018 had demanded that petrol and diesel be brought under GST.

This tweet has has come to haunt the DMK government back which is a direct contradiction of the current position it has taken.

The AIADMK questioned the DMK government’s opposition to bring petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying it was contrary to the ruling party’s persistent demands for covering fuel under the GST ambit earlier, when it was in the opposition.

“DMK is known for taking one stand while in the opposition and another when in power, in issues like regional autonomy, NEET cancellation and inter-state river disputes,”  AIADMK Coordinator O. Panneerselvam said in a party statement.

BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai said that it was a sad state of affairs as bringing petrol and diesel under GST would benefit the public a lot.

BJP Tamil Nadu Spokesperson SG Suryah called out the U-turn by the DMK as a party with no morals for contradicting its own positions.

Here are some of the reactions from netizens.

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