Last ditch efforts to placate businessmen affected by Goods and Services Tax (GST) saved at least 20 seats for the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly polls, a top business leader in state claimed today.
Last ditch efforts to placate businessmen affected by Goods and Services Tax (GST) saved at least 20 seats for the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly polls, a top business leader in state claimed today.
Another trade leader in Surat said that traders did not know that the contest would be so close and they did not want to rub the government in the wrong way and hence did not vote for Congress.
From the results and trends available till now, the Congress has won 70 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, while the BJP was victorious in 75 seats. The Congress was leading in 7 other constituencies. The BJP was ahead in 24 other seats.
Cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot which were major centers of protests by businessmen have voted for BJP as the party won most seats in these cities. BJP's tally dropped marginally in these trader-dominated cities as Congress made some token inroads in urban areas but failed to make substantial gain in these BJP strongholds.
The issue of GST cropped up in Gujarat, right from its rollout in July 2016. High rates of taxation and issues related to compliance caused anger in businessmen and tax practitioner communities.
Severe penal provisions, often because of systemic issues, had caused severe dissent among the traders. As the issue snowballed, the central government rushed in a team of tax officials to Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad. Following the feedback received, the government initiated massive course correction.
“After the meeting, businessmen preferred to stay with BJP. If these measures were not taken, BJP would have easily lost 20-22 seats," said Shailesh Patwari, President of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
On the other hand, a segment of business leaders believe that even though traders were adversely affected because of GST, they did not vote for Congress as they underestimated the support Congress was getting from the masses.
"Traders did not imagine in their faintest of dreams that Congress and Rahul Gandhi would be able to garner so much support. If it had occurred to them, then they have voted aggressively in favour of Congress," said Jaylal, President of Surat Vividh Vepari Mahamandal and was one of the key players to lead the protests by textile traders in Surat.
"Businessmen have to face government authorities day in and day out. So they preferred not to antagonize BJP," said Jaylal.
He said that the elections have key takeaways for trading community and Congress has re-emerged as a credible force in the country.
"Even Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a leader who could single-handedly challenged Modi and Amit Shah in their den. We can't say that he failed. Had the Manishankar Aiyar and Kapil Sibal episodes not happened, then results would have been quite different," he added.
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