The Congress on Monday kept the Modi government on tenterhooks over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill by deferring discussions with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to resolve the standoff on the issue.
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To a question on whether the BJP has been “bypassing” Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Naidu said: “That is absolutely not true”.
Congress isn’t letting the Parliament function over the National Herald case alleging political vendetta by BJP after the Delhi High Court refused to quash summons to its leaders including party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.
“We will inform the countrymen through these protests that to save its top leaders in the National Herald case, the Congress didn’t allow the Rajya Sabha to function, and due to this attitude GST like bill of such public importance could not be passed”, the BJP leader added.
Talking about the National Herald case and continuous disruptions in the parliament, Jaitley said: “Congress is holding country’s democracy to ransom over the web it created by its own financial transaction in the National Herald case”.
If the ruling NDA dispensation is not able to find ways to successfully complete its parliamentary duties, it must look within also and do some hard introspection if it wants to save future Parliament sessions from washouts in terms of legislative work. On the party’s other demand of scrapping the powers to states to levy 1 percent additional tax over and above the GST rate, he said the government will talk to manufacturing states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which have been demanding such a levy.
“Engagement between central government and opposition can not be restricted to one issue”.
Jaitley threw the Congress a dare: “Those who claim the legacy of Panditji must ask themselves the question, what kind of history they are making”.
They said the government’s recent overtures, which included hosting Congress leaders to a tea and a lunch, came under compulsion and were narrowly limited to the GST bill while the Centre’s overall approach continued to be “hostile and insensitive”. Senior Congress leader Begum Noor Bano, Congress MLC Naseeb Pathan and several party cadres also participated in the march.
Kharge is leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha whereas Azad is Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. The reasons for the wash out of the current Session keep changing by the hour.
According to Naidu, he is ready to walk any extra mile that the Congress wishes if it helps in passing GST.
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Indicating that the party was in no hurry to lend its support to the GST bill, he said the bill was delayed by the BJP during the UPA government but the economy did not go into deep freeze.
