Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was also present during the deliberations, said: “The Congress party leaders put forth their position with regard to the three issues of the Bill, which they felt are of concern to them”.
Advertisement
Congress today said that it was open for discussions on GST bill on which it has “very genuine concerns”.
“It is not that the nation is not tolerant or the majority community is not tolerant…”
“It is very risky for the country”, he added.
Legislators started their winter session on Thursday, which will continue until December 23.
“It’s a political vendetta”, said veteran newspaper editor and commentator Shekhar Gupta of the BJP’s attacks on Congress, and specifically Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to his mother and party leader Sonia Gandhi. We are ready for discussion. “From the opposition side, the session will go in a peaceful manner”.
Urging the opposition parties to let the House function smoothly, the Prime Minister said at an all-party meeting, convened by the government, that Parliament should run constructively and fulfill the expectations of the people. “We have worked out all arrangements across the entire financial system by how people get paid when they cash out from the one of the direct benefit transfer payment”, he said.
A day before the winter session of Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party is going all out to strategise its tactics for what could be another stormy session. The legislative agenda includes 19 Bills that are now pending in Parliament for consideration and passage.
The government needs Parliament approval for the GST Bill in the ongoing Winter Session to roll out the new indirect tax regime, as planned, from April 1, 2016.
The Congress veteran further said the party had conceived and drafted the GST Bill and supported it in principle, but had raised some issues which must be resolved by the government.
However, the opposition party insisted that the GST rate should be set at less than 20 per cent and that they are also not ready to compromise on the demand to scrap the 1 per cent tax proposed for manufacturers and the setting up of an independent dispute resolution mechanism for GST.
Asked about GST, which is hanging fire for the last several years, Gandhi said, “we strongly believe in GST”. Will the opposition take their stand to protest against governement against the intolerance topic and the GST bill or the parliament will resule its smooth working.
Advertisement
Azad said the opposition also wanted to discuss intolerance, price rise, farmers’ plight, incidents of communal disharmony and drought, besides issues of women safety, corruption and child labour.
