India, Aug. 8 -- Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday hit back at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after she accused him of spreading "canards" over the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, and said Government assurances or tweets are no substitute for statutory safeguards.

In a long post on X, Ramesh said the finance minister's response to his "so-called canards" hinges on five "dubious claims".

He said the claim that Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) applies only to merchants and not to customers is misleading.

"MDR is charged to merchants but it is inevitable that they pass transaction costs on to consumers through higher prices or differential pricing - just as they do with credit and debit card payments. Moreover, 'merchants...