New Delhi: The BJP has questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s strong opposition to the Centre’s new fee framework for certain UPI transactions, arguing that Congress MPs themselves had earlier backed a similar recommendation in a parliamentary panel.
The government has introduced a new charging mechanism for commercial UPI payments above Rs 2,000. Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has demanded that the move be withdrawn, alleging it would benefit foreign companies.
Rejecting the allegation, the Centre has said the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is not a tax and that consumers will not pay the charge directly. The BJP has used this to accuse Congress of taking contradictory positions on the issue.
According to the BJP, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, adopted a recommendation on August 12 supporting a new fee model for UPI transactions. The party said the panel included Congress MPs P Chidambaram, Gaurav Gogoi, Manish Tewari, Kishori Lal and Gopinath, and that the report was accepted unanimously without dissent from them.
The BJP has argued that Rahul Gandhi is opposing for political reasons a policy that, it claims, was supported within Parliament by senior Congress MPs, and has asked why he is now resisting what his party colleagues did not object to in the committee.
