SP workers protest GST; halt train in Allahabad

New Delhi: With the official launch of Goods and Services Tax on Friday midnight by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee, various opposition parties are reacting differently. Samajwadi Party workers stopped the Allahabad-Gomti Express which was on its way to Lucknow from Allahabad on Saturday morning. Though Samajwadi Party leaders were present in the parliament during the launch of GST, the protest by its workers have raised several questions. Ruptures in the opposition unity emerged barely a week after 17 parties joined hands to put up a joint candidate against the ruling NDA nominee for the July 17 presidential election. The Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left, the BSP, the DMK, the RJD and some other parties boycotted the event, dubbing it as a "tamasha" (drama). The NCP, a key constituent of the Congress-led UPA, broke away from the Opposition ranks, with its chief Sharad Pawar along with Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar attending the event in the Central Hall of Parliament. Anwar said his party was attending the GST launch as it had supported the legislation on ushering in the new indirect tax regime in the country. "We agree with the Congress to an extent, but we supported the legislation when it was introduced (in Parliament and state assemblies). The party has hence decided to attend the midnight meeting," he said. JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda also attended the programme, sharing the dais with President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. According to Congress sources, Gowda was requested by a senior party leader not to attend the programme but he did not heed to it.