Protesting against the imposition of house tax in the city, the Congress has announced to launch an agitation against the ruling BJP and local Member Parliament Kirron Kher in the city.

The Chandigarh Congress on Thursday blamed MP Kirron Kher and city BJP president Sanjay Tandon BJP for imposition of the house tax in the city.

While addressing a press conference here, former Union Minister and ex-city MP Pawan Kumar Bansal and Pardeep Chhabra president, city Congress accused Kirron Kher and Tandon of hypocrisy and the double speak on the issue.

Bansal while quoting the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act applicable in the Chandigarh said that the way property tax imposed was legally not right and utter violations of the act. Instead of inviting the objection, the tax was imposed without observing the legal provision.

The former Union Minister also took a dig on the statement of the Adviser for owning up the responsibility for the tax. Bansal said that no where in the rules such powers were delegated to the Adviser to impose the tax. He accused the BJP leadership for putting the undue pressure on the Adviser to accept the responsibility.

He said that the BJP has done fraud with the people of the city. It has never happened before that the tax was increased by 1600 times. On one hand, Administration used the provision of the act to impose the tax, on the other it never bothered to give  share of the revenue as per the act.

“The people were cajoled, coaxed to live in Chandigarh when the city was  developed. But now they have been forced to give more as the house tax than the amount on which they bought the house,” he alleged.

Pradeep Chhabra said that the Congress will oppose the decision to impose house tax on the streets and make the people  aware about the hypocrisy of the BJP leadership.