GST maze engulfs Gujarat elections, overtakes quota demand for Patidars

Farmers in North Gujarat say they have little or no money to buy their inputs for the next sowing season

For months, P M Shah and Hetal Mehta, president and vice-president of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have been darting from their base in Surat to both Gandhinagar and Delhi. The effort has been to process the Goods and Services Tax (GST), its various amendments and to decode its “intricacies” for users.

They have frequently interacted with Union finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia, who as the revenue secretary, was in charge of the new levy's rollout, and with Subhash Garg, the economic affairs secretary. The chamber's objective, it says, was to handhold the Centre as it grappled with political