Chidambaram said the Congress is in favour of the GST but there are flaws in the proposed bill and the government promised to reflect and come back with the revised formulations.
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If the BJP was being irresponsible during UPA II, that’s all the more reason for the Congress to show restraint and maturity in its conduct; the National Herald case began when the Congress-led government was in power and it’s a matter of the court now; and the likes of Swamy and Ram Jethmalani have minds independent of the parties they belong to.
With Thursday seeing a third day of logjam in Parliament, senior ministers indicated the government wasn’t going to give in to the Congress party on passage of the goods and services tax (GST) Constitutional amendment Bill because of what they see as its armtwisting by disruptiions over the National Herald issue.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to meet Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and his deputy Anand Sharma on Monday with the government’s response to the three key demands raised by the main opposition on the indirect tax reform measure. Congress also accused high court of pursuing Legal Vendetta against Gandhis. “Why don’t you say directly that we want to stall country’s progress. I will continue to fight corruption”, he said. Earlier they used to shout slogans. “They have a bill today in the parliament, but think it is a flawed bill, we have pointed out the flaws”.
The party today stated that its protest in Parliament is aimed at seeking accountability on issues like the continuation of General VK Singh in the Council of Ministers for his anti-Dalit remarks. What moral right does the Congress have to accuse the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of political vendetta over a court summons issued to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi? But I am clear that it is not because of the National Herald case. He alleged that the Congress leadership was guilty of commercially exploiting prime land – allocated to the paper for commercial purposes – after the paper was shut down. “It is not only GST (bill) but many pro-poor steps are stuck in Parliament”. “The Congress is, therefore, crying foul and calling it political vendetta…By disrupting democracy, the financial web created by the Congress leaders can not be undone”.
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Several Congress members trooped into the Well of the House shouting anti-government slogans like “Modi teri tanashahi nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (Dictatorship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be tolerated)” and “Hitlershahi nahi chalegi (Hitler-like attitude will not be tolerated)”. “Their lawyers failed to convince the court that talked of “criminal contempt” by them in the case and not misguide the court…Congress failed to convince the courts and is now unnecessarily trying to create pressure on the courts by stalling Parliament proceedings”, he said.
