Month: July 2014

NEW DELHI (TIP): Amit Shah, who delivered crucial Uttar Pradesh to BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, was on July 9 appointed party president, marking Gujarat’s firm grip over the ruling dispensation after Narendra Modi’s elevation as Prime Minister. Shah, a close and controversial aide of Modi, was appointed to the top post in BJP at a meeting of Parliamentary Board where incumbent Rajnath Singh resigned after a tenure of one-and-a-half year. The former Minister of State for Home in Gujarat, who faces charges in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, is largely credited for BJP’s stunning performance in UP where it got 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The meeting was attended among others by Modi, senior leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who had to table the pre-Budget Economic Survey in Lok Sabha, joined the press conference where the announcement was made by Singh. “From now and now on, Amit Shah will be the president of the BJP and lead the party. His appointment was approved unanimously,” he said flanked by Modi and other leaders. Shortly after the announcement, Modi and Singh offered sweets to Shah while other leaders including Advani, Joshi, Swaraj and Jaitley presented him bouquets.

As reporters started plying him questions, Shah replied “I will speak later” bringing the brief ceremony to a close. 50-year-old Shah takes over from Singh who was appointed party president after the exit of Nitin Gadkari in controversial circumstances. “I took over as the BJP President with a heavy heart. I felt helpless because of baseless allegations levelled against Nitin Gadkari. Since the Prime Minister has given me the responsibility of the Home Ministry, I convened the meeting of the Central Parliamentary Board and tendered resignation as party chief.

The Parliamentary Board unanimously decided to appoint Amit Shah as the President of BJP,” Singh said. Singh had recently announced that he will relinquish his BJP role in keeping with the party’s “one-man, one-post” principle. “Shah is full of imaginative ideas and is good at organisational skills. As in charge of UP during Lok Sabha polls, he got a roaring success. BJP had never been so successful in its history in UP,” Singh said. He also credited former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Advani for making the Indian polity from unipolar to bipolar. Singh said under Modi’s leadership, the party got thumping majority in the Lok Sabha elections, thus becoming the single largest party to get majority on its own after nearly 30 years. BJP is set for major organisational changes following its victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as many of its senior leaders have become part of the Modi government.

The party’s reorganisation will come ahead of Assembly elections in states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand later this year and early next year. The RSS, BJP’s ideological fountainhead, is also keen that the party should not be weakened after government formation. It had already deputed two of its key leaders — Ram Madhav and Shiv Prakash — to work for BJP and new roles for both of them will be assigned by the new party chief. The two are likely to get key roles in the revamped party set-up with Madhav likely to be the new party general secretary.

The announcement of Shah’s name as BJP President came after RSS’ nod for the same. Singh later told reporters that Shah will be more successful than him as the party president. “I have full confidence that Amit Shah through his organisational and managerial skills, will be successful in making BJP, which has emerged as the largest political party in the country, reach bigger heights. I believe that Shah will be more successful than me,” he said. Senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said the party has taken a correct decision by appointing Shah as its president. “Since Rajnath Singh became the Home Minister, BJP had been looking for a president. I want to congratulate Amit Shah on behalf of all the party workers.

NEW DELHI (TIP): The Narendra Modi government on July 10 unveiled its intent to revive growth by shoring up infrastructure and manufacturing, besides increasing investments by boosting savings through Income Tax sops and raising tax breaks on housing loans in its first Union Budget. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, presenting his maiden Budget for 2014-15, said the Budget followed the theme of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. Jaitley balanced the fiscal deficit by accepting the target of 4.1 per cent this year set by the previous UPA government. The fiscal deficit target will go down to 3.6 per cent and 3 per cent in the next two years, although, Jaitley added, it would be a challenge.

Laying the groundwork of the direction of the Budget proposals, Jaitley said these steps were only the beginning of a journey towards a sustained growth of 7-8 per cent or above within the next 3-4 years along with macroeconomic stabilization. “Therefore, it would not be wise to expect everything that can be done or must be done to be in the first Budget presented within 45 days of the formation of this government,” he added, probably to tone down the burden of expectations from the new government. Bearing Modi’s stamp, the Budget proposals are geared more towards investment and asset creation as opposed to the entitlement driven social sector focus of the UPA regime. Following a strategy of boosting savings and putting more money into the hands of the people, Jaitley has raised the threshold Income Tax exemption limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh and investments under 80C by Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

In addition, the deduction limit on interest on housing loan for self-occupied property has been increased from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Balwant Jain, CFO, Apnapaisa said the Finance Minister has given the benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh in aggregate spread over three components of Rs 50,000 each. Jain said savings would range from a minimum of Rs 5,150 for a person who is in the 10 per cent slab and does not avail 80 C benefit and does not have home loan, to a maximum of Rs 46,350 for a person who is in the 30 per cent tax slab, avails 80 C benefits and pays minimum of Rs 2 lakh as interest on home loan during the year. For senior citizens, the IT exemption limit is higher at Rs 3 lakh and the pension scheme has been re-introduced for a limited period.

Free baggage allowance for inbound passengers has been increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000. For consumers, the Budget makes cigarettes and colas costlier, while cathode ray tube TVs, LCD panels of less than 19 inch, computers, soaps and footwear are cheaper. The direct tax proposals involve a net outgo of Rs 22,200 crore mainly because of income tax exemptions, while indirect tax proposal will yield a revenue of Rs 7,725 crore. Non-plan expenditure for the current year has been estimated at Rs 12.19 lakh crore, while the total expenditure estimates stand at Rs 17.94 lakh crore.

The Plan Expenditure will grow by 20 per cent year on year. The Budget makes a big statement on attracting foreign investment. The Foreign Direct Investment cap on insurance and defense has been raised from 26 to 49 per cent. Further, FDI in e-commerce has been allowed, while rules for FDI in real estate have been relaxed. The controversial retrospective taxation clause and all transfer pricing cases arising out of it have been referred to a high-level committee to assure foreign investors. Jaitley, who took an unusual five-minute break during the speech following backache, said the Budget followed the theme of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. The big push in the Budget is around housing, smart cities, warehousing capacity, urban areas rejuvenation, highways and agriculture.