Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, claimed on Saturday that the national government would not have imposed GST on daily necessities if it had known that inflation would lead to the overthrow of the state governments. Kejriwal said on Twitter that the GST on goods like curd, buttermilk, honey, wheat, and rice will bring in Rs 7,500 crore annually to the exchequer of the federal government. He also asserted without evidence that the federal government spent 6,300 crores to top off state governments.
Taking to the Twitter, Kejriwal said, “The GST imposed on curd, buttermilk, honey, wheat, rice etc. will bring Rs 7,000 crore annually to the central government. So far, they have spent 6,300 crore on toppling governments. Had they not toppled these governments, GST would not have had to be imposed on wheat, rice, buttermilk etc. People would not have to face inflation.”
After the CBI raided Manish Sisodia’s house in connection with an alleged liquor scandal connected to Delhi Excise Policy 2020-21, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) launched a new line of attack. According to AAP, the BJP offered its party’s MLAs 20 crores each in exchange for overthrowing the government in the Union Territory.
Addressing the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Kejriwal said, “They have toppled several governments in the country till date—Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Meghalaya. There is a serial killer in the city who is committing one murder after another. People choose a government, they topple it.”
The Delhi Assembly’s special session has been prolonged by one day in order to allow AAP to present the motion of confidence in the House and demonstrate that no party MLA has defected.
“It is being said that they broke away a number of MLAs. I received phone calls, people asked me if everything was alright. I would like to bring a confidence motion in the house to show people that not even one went away, that BJP’s Operation Lotus became “Operation Keechad here,” said Kejriwal.