“It’s extremely important and all parties must come together”, Mr.Jaitley told a TV channel, expressing disappointment over the absence of a response from the Congress to the recommendation of a government-appointed panel on keeping the revenue neutral rate for GST at 15 per cent.
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Refuting charges of “vendetta politics”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said taking objection to a judicial verdict and stalling parliament was the biggest threat to democracy and the Congress should realise it. “Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had said on Tuesday after the Delhi High Court judgment in the National Herald case that democracy is in danger”. “It is very puzzling that Congress, which had so much of experience in governance, both at the Centre and in the states, stooped so low to disrupt Parliament”, he said, while talking to mediapersons here.
A hopeful government has listed a slew of key legislations relating to GST, Real Estate and Prevention of Corruption for debate and passage this week. Commenting on the killings of two Dalit children in Haryana, Singh is reported to have said: “If someone throws stones at a dog, the government is not responsible”.
“Why the Congress is raising the issue in both the houses of parliament as the matter is sub-judice”, he said. The nation may have to wait for the GST bill.
Sources said that the ministers were unanimous in seeking a robust counter to the campaign of Congress which has attributed political motive behind the case.
There was hope for the GST following Modi’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Meanwhile, the government also seems to have given up and the Modi regime no longer expects the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, meant to introduce the GST, to clear Parliament in the current session. The Congress has stoically maintained that it is still weighing all its prospects and will convey the party’s official stand in due course.
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On the GST front, Chaubey says that there is 50-50 chance of the Bill getting implemented on its deadline of April 1, 2016.
