Kerala is likely to withdraw taxes on essential commodities as proposed in the truncated budget by Finance Minister KM Mani.
A decision to this effect was taken by leader of individual parties in the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front at a meeting here this morning.
The Finance Minister is expected to make a separate statement in his reply to the debate in the Assembly giving effect to this decision.
Accordingly, the tax on rice and allied products, wheat, sugar and coconut oil imposed in the inflationary budget for 2015-16 is likely to be scrapped.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has ruled out any compromise on its demand for action against ruling coalition MLAs who it alleged had violated the modesty of its women members during black scuffle on Friday last.
OPPOSITION ADAMANT
This emerged during back-to-back meetings with the party leaders that the Speaker had called this morning, which arrived at a decision not to proceed against MLAs belonging to the ruling coalition.
The meeting also assessed that the Opposition complaint was delayed until this morning which gave rise to suspicion that a lot of planning and afterthought may have gone into while drafting it, even compromising on facts.
It is likely that action will be against no less than five members of the Opposition for vandalising the House that culminated in the destruction of the Speaker's dais.