The Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram’s declaration against imposition of wealth tax on agriculture land may eventually leave the Congress party richer in the impending gram panchayat election. Though both the Congress and the Akalis have been attempting to amass credit for the decision, the “hand” seems to have gathered more in terms of credit.
Just about a fortnight before the scheduled date for holding the Panchayat elections in Punjab, the Congress-led Central Government has announced that no wealth tax be imposed on farmlands, with both the Congress and the SAD claiming their victory in an apparent attempt to woo the main vote bank in the grassroot level polls — the farmers. Both are also laying claims that they were the first one to raise the issue.
No doubt, both the SAD and the Congress have made repeated efforts and built pressure on the Centre to roll back its decision to impose the tax. But, which party has gained out of the situation is the question to be answered by the voters.
The SAD and the Congress are up the ante over the issue of wealth tax in the wake of ensuing elections to Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samitis. Both the parties are making efforts to woo the major vote bank — the farmers — which will be directly affected by the decision, as they cannot afford to loose their support too.
A total of 22 Zila Parishads and 145 Panchayat Samitis are going for polls on May 19.
Welcoming the decision, while the Congress leaders termed it as the “victory of Congress party which took a firm stand in favour of farming community”, the SAD call it as “major victory of the SAD as the Centre was forced to withdraw the tax in view of massive response to its efforts”.
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee has, in fact, asked the ruling alliance to show statesmanship by bringing the resolution in the special session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on May 3 to express gratitude to the UPA Government for its landmark decision protecting the interests of farming community.
“Congress party was first to raise the issue of wealth tax and later the SAD-BJP government tried to hijack the issue for getting political mileage. Though BJP kept silence on the issue, the SAD leaders blown the issue out of proportion to divert the attention of people from the core issues of property tax, hike in power tariff, law and order, illegal mining and corruption,” a joint statement by the PPCC office bearers read.
The Congress leaders demanded that after the Centre conceded the demand of exempting agriculture land from wealth tax, it would be appropriate to discuss all core issues in the Vidhan Sabha session on May 3. “Congress party would like to debate non-governance of SAD-BJP Government,” it stated, adding that the PPCC members demanded to withdraw hike in power tariff and rationalise property tax to minimum level.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has described the Central Government’s decision to roll back wealth tax on agriculture land as “a delayed step forward”, saying that the decision showed how the Congress leadership in Punjab had tried to sabotage it.
“They first completely denied the existence of the problem and later, faced with immense and unrelenting pressure mounted by the SAD-BJP, they sought to take undeserved credit for a decision taken against their declared stand,” he added.
“PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa was in the most pathetic and ridiculous situation as he woke up only when the SAD-BJP and the farmers had already pushed the button and driven center to the wall,” he said.
lashing out at the Punjab Congress for taking credit, Badal said that the PPCC president first denied any decision of the Central Government to impose wealth tax on agriculture land, and “later claimed credit for the farmers’ victory. This is indeed a victory of the farmers, but a victory over whomIJ”
Badal maintained that the Congress leaders were pretending to rejoice over their own defeat.
He further pointed, “Several PPCC leaders had gone on record saying that the SAD-BJP were merely enacting a political tamasha as wealth tax on agriculture land simply did not exist. May I ask them now why were they running up and down in Delhi and what were they doing in Delhi in getting his PR photographs clicked with the central leaders, if wealth tax was indeed no issueIJ May I also ask Bajwa that if the SAD-BJP were turning a non-issue into an issue, why are they now claiming credit for such a non-issueIJ”
The development has no doubt came out as a major win for the state Congress chief Partap Bajwa, who would faced a tough challenge after taking over the reigns of the state Congress during panchayat polls.