While government sources said all GST issues are now resolved, Congress sources said there is still no agreement over its key demand that a cap on the rate of GST be mentioned in the bill.
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With states onboard and the Cabinet approving the amendments, the government is hopeful of passage of the long-pending GST Bill in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which ends on August 12.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar informed that the bill has been listed in Upper House for consideration. Despite the attempts of Manmohan Singh regime to pass the legislation, BJP which was then the prime Opposition, along with other regional parties, obstructed the passage of the bill, calling it disastrous for small and medium scale traders.
The bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. Similarly, Centre would have to compensate the state completely for a period of five years.
At the All India Congress Committee briefing, party leader P.L. Punia said GST “is very important for the economy, industry and the business as also for the consumer”.
Leaving no stone unturned as the Narendra Modi government gears up for its biggest economic reform yet, the BJP has already issued a three-line whip to all its Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in Parliament for the next three days. “Due to lot of structural and procedural changes that we have brought in and due to foreign direct investments, also by integrating certain new things to our economic system we can proudly say that India is today the fastest growing economy in the world”, he said, addressing “Karnataka Raju Kshatriya Samavesha’ function here”.
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The GST legislation, which intends to convert 29 states into a single market through a new indirect tax regime, was earlier planned to be introduced from April 1 this year, but the deadline was missed as the legislation to roll it out remained in limbo in the Opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha.
