The government has officially reached out to the opposition to break the deadlock over the GST Bill said a report in The Indian Express. Finance Minister Arun jaitley spoke to Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and senior leader Anand Sharma and invited them for a meeting later this week in an attempt to narrow the differences on the Bill.
Sources said a meeting of the Congress strategy group would take place Wednesday to discuss the line to be taken on the Bill. The party has made it clear that it was willing to consider the government proposals on its most critical demand of a cap on the tax rate in the Constitutional Amendment Bill.
The party had been insisting that an 18 per cent cap should be mentioned in the Constitutional Amendment Bill. It is now willing to consider alternative government proposals. “We want an assurance from the government on ‘ring-fencing’ of the tax rate. Let the government come with options,” Anand Sharma, deputy leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha, had told The Indian Express.
Azad and Sharma on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and it is learnt the GST issue came up for discussion. “Before the Parliament session, we will deliberate on the issue…The government has requested that it would want to discuss the issue with us. There is still time for the session… We have a week’s time to think which of our demands will be accepted and how much will be accepted. When we sit across the table, we will see how much they are willing to accept,” Azad said.
Sources in the Congress said the meeting with the Finance Minister could take place either on Thursday or Friday, well before the all-party meeting convened by the government on Saturday. Jaitley, sources said, has proposed the meeting on Thursday. New Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had last week unofficially sounded out the opposition leaders about the government’s desire to discuss the issue.
Sources said the Congress continues to be divided on capping the tax rate in the Constitutional Amendment Bill, with some leaders arguing it was impractical. Many leaders argue PM Narendra Modihad single-handedly blocked the GST Bill when the UPA was in power and the party should not go out of the way to help the BJPgovernment pass the Bill and take credit, given the fact that it is the Congress that is the “original author” of the reform legislation.
