Uproar in state Assembly over reference to Kodnani

Patel was referring to the central government’s appreciation for state government’s financial excellence. He told the Opposition that while the Centre was all praise for Gujarat’s performance,“Your leaders here keep telling no development is taking place.” Chauhan at this juncture said “Ask Mayaben.” Kodnani is presently out on bail and was present in the House. Chauhan’s remark forced the Bhatt to warn the member.

The treasury members thumped the desks when Bhatt said the minister was not straying away from the subject whereas the Congress members objected to Patel mentioning recent hike in petroleum products. The Opposition members were heard telling the minister that the state government should also reduce tax on petroleum products to bring down the prices instead of blaming on the Centre.

Patel also referred to earlier welfare schemes which according to him were aimed more at dividing the society along caste and community lines. Dabhoi MLA and GPCC president Siddharth Patel quoted figures from a survey done by Technical Advisory Committee to prove that the state was heavily burdened by public debt that had mounted ten times.

He said during the BJP rule the debt had increased from Rs 9,300 crore to Rs 90,000 crore in the past five years. Siddharth Patel also quoted CAG report that pointed out that non-plan expenditure had touched 82 per cent of the total expenditure of the state government. The Speaker directed him to table the original reports instead of quoting from media reports.

GPCC chief also criticised the government for ignoring dropout ratio in.

He also lamented levy of surcharge on Value Added Tax despite the promise of its withdrawal. He also wondered why when states like Andhra Pradesh charged Rs 175 crore as electricity duty,Gujarat government levied Rs 2,090 crore.