Tuesday, May 24 2005 15:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranthambore: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (May 24, 2005) attacked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for opposing introduction of Value-Added Tax (VAT) in the States ruled by it, saying it is not appropriate to bring politics in switching over to the new 'forward-looking' tax regime, legwork for which was initiated by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government.

Addressing a press conference, Singh expressed concern over Rajasthan's BJP Government's reluctance to implement VAT despite the State being backward.

Finance Minister in the NDA regime, Yashwant Sinha, had started the work on VAT and his successor Jaswant Singh had given the date for its introduction.

"It is not appropriate to bring politics with regard to the implementation of VAT," the Prime Minister said.

"Till yesterday, NDA favoured implementation of VAT and worked on it for five years," he said, adding "I appreciate them for this", but now since they are not in the Government, it is not appropriate of them to talk about Opposition.