New Delhi
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticized the BJP for spreading rumors about an inheritance tax, stating that the Congress manifesto committee never even discussed it. Tharoor, a member of the committee that drafted the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, said the ruling party is reaching for anything to distract from its poor prospects in the polls.
Tharoor mentioned that the Congress, under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, abolished the inheritance tax in 1985. He pointed out that while the BJP accuses the Congress of planning to reintroduce it, the only party to suggest an inheritance tax in recent times was the BJP itself, during the 2019 elections. The BJP’s claims are pure fiction. The Congress has no intention of implementing an inheritance tax, Tharoor said.
Addressing comments made by Congress leader Sam Pitroda that stirred controversy, Tharoor clarified that these were personal views and not part of the Congress platform. Pitroda doesn’t even live in India; his mountaintop is in Chicago, not the Himalayas, Tharoor noted.
Tharoor accused the BJP of misleading voters with false claims, adding that the public is more concerned with real issues like jobs and economic growth, not the inheritance tax. He argued that the BJP is using this controversy to divert attention from its political troubles and criticized them for inventing stories that have no basis in the Congress manifesto.
