GST crackdown on Beed sugar factory miffs Pankaja Munde
The Hindu
GST raid on Pune's Pankaja Munde's sugar factory draws sympathy from NCP leaders, who urge her to consider her political future. Ms. Munde has been estranged from BJP top brass due to her defeat in 2019 Assembly election and her criticism of Devendra Fadnavis' leadership. NCP leaders have expressed solidarity and urged her to think seriously about her political future.
The latest crackdown by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Commissionerate on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Pankaja Munde’s sugar factory in Beed district has further estranged Ms. Munde from the BJP top brass while drawing sympathy from leaders of the Opposition Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who urged her to seriously think about her political future.
The GST’s raid on Ms. Munde’s Vaidyanath Sugar Factory in Parli on September 24 was the second such raid this year, following a similar shake-up in April. Authorities seized assets worth ₹19 crores from Ms. Munde’s factory.
The timing of the raid, which comes just when Ms. Munde - the daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde - is undertaking her ‘Shiv Shakti yatra’ across the State is significant.
While observers view it as another attempt by the BJP top brass to get the ‘errant’ Ms. Munde to fall in line, the Opposition said the GST crackdown is an example of how the BJP treats its loyalists.
A clearly disappointed Ms. Munde, in a veiled rebuke at the BJP-ruled Central and State governments said that had they helped her sugar mill out, a crisis could have been averted.
“While other sugar mills received government support, ours was skipped,” she said.
Meanwhile, leaders from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction expressed solidarity for Ms. Munde.