New Delhi: The BJP and the Congress were engaged in an intense verbal duel in the RajyaSabha, as the ruling party castigated the erstwhile UPA regime for its many failures, to which the opposition fired back by calling the Modi dispensation a "name changer" government.

In his maiden address to the Upper House since being elected in August 2017, BJP president Amit Shah tore into the Congress for criticizing GST as "Gabbar Singh Tax" and thereby "inciting" people not to pay taxes.

"Gabbar Singh was a Hindi film dacoit. Is legally claiming taxes from people a dacoity? And where does this Gabbar Singh Tax/GST go? It goes in the bank account of a jawan for giving One Rank, One Pension, it goes in the bank account of widows of martyrs," Shah said.

He also took on Congress leader P Chidambaram for his 'pakoda' jibe against Prime Minister NarendraModi, insisting that it was better to sell pakodas than being unemployed.

"It is better for a youth to earn living selling pakodas instead of being unemployed. Making pakodas is not shameful, what is shameful is comparing such a person with a beggar," he said

Alluding to Modi, the BJP chief remarked that a "chai-walla's son" had risen to the office of prime minister.

During his nearly 90-minute speech, Shah also pitched for simultaneous assembly and LokSabha elections, besides touching upon a host of measures taken by the government -- ranging from power supply, toilets, gas, employment and health facilities to the people.

Leader of the Opposition GhulamNabi Azad mounted a scathing attack on the NDA government and claimed that it was merely "repackaging" the schemes and policies initiated by the Congress-led UPA regime.

"Names of all the schemes launched under UPA governance after 1985 have been changed. That's why I say, that the government is not a 'game changer' but a 'name changer'... Nobody knows repackaging better than the BJP government," Azad alleged.