The BJP on Monday accused opposition parties of doing politics over the GST imposed on packaged food items like milk and cereal as it noted that state governments run by them were also part of the decision taken by the GST council.
BJP spokesperson Zafar Islam said opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi were deliberately misleading people by blaming the central government for the 5% Goods and Services Tax rate which kicked in from Monday on pre-packed and labelled food items such as milk, curd, cereals, pulses and flour weighing less than 25 kg.
The GST council takes these decisions after thorough deliberations with finance ministers of states, including where the opposition parties are in power, and finalise any rates unanimously, he said.
While members of opposition parties support the decision in the meeting, their leaders mislead people outside, he said, claiming that this will backfire on them as people are aware of reality.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had earlier hit out at the ruling BJP at the Centre over high taxes and unemployment, accusing it of destroying the world's fastest growing economy.
He said this while sharing a graph on Twitter showing how commodities like curd, paneer, rice, wheat, barley, jaggery and honey are being taxed now.
