Chennai/Coimbatore: Claiming a “broad consensus” on the long pending GST Bill, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the Centre was “very serious” about its passage in the monsoon session of parliament, but virtually rejected Congress’ demand for a tax rate cap terming it “not feasible and advisable”.
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It is apparent that for the government, passage of GST was not just about the numbers but also getting the Congress on board for consensus on it. The bill has been pending in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA is in a minority.
Sensing trouble, the Modi government scheduled an all-party meet on Sunday requesting all th eparties to support the GST and not indulge in things that are of lesser importance than the GST. “We will let the bills pass on basis of merit, we do not obstruct passage of bills”, he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters after the two-hour meeting that Parliament was a “mahapanchayat” where all issues could be raised.
The PM’s remarks came after Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal complained that the bill was becoming a bilateral affair between BJP and Congress and warned that his party could stall the legislation. Unsuccessful at its first attempt in previous session passed at Lok Sabha in 2015, the government urged to convince Opposition for present refrendum.
The Monsoon session of Parliament begans today. As a result, Parliament has got a lot more productive-of the eight Bills passed in the Winter Session, seven were in the Rajya Sabha where the NDA lacks a majority and a total of 17 Bills were passed in the Budget Session including important ones like the real estate, bankruptcy and Aadhaar Bills.
BJP sources said Congress has sought more time as they wanted to have some more internal discussions on the GST.
The monsoon session of Parliament, which is expected to be hit by several burning issues, such as the Jammu and Kashmir violence and the political developments in Arunachal Pradesh, will commence on 18 July.
In addition to the meetings between Jaitly and the Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Anand Sharma, the Prime Minister also took the initiative to break the ice with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday morning.
He said the GST bill will bring about unprecedented, sweeping changes in the taxation structure and the manner in which indirect taxes like excise, service tax, sales tax or VAT are levied.
Now, with the 2016 Monsoon session around the corner, the Congress wants its due credit for the GST proposal.
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The deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha said Congress will raise in both Houses the issue of “assault on federal structure and constitutional democracy”, in reference to Government’s moves to dislodge its governments in Arunachal and Uttarakhand.
