The BJP may have rescued the Pension Bill in the last session of Parliament, but after the standoff between the Congress and the opposition over the draft report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the 2G spectrum scam, all cooperation on key economic reforms seems to be on hold. Speaking at a function to mark Ficci?s national executive, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said it was the Centre?s job to ?bring key players on board.?
While he made this statement with specific referrence to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, sources in the party say that the increasingly bitter relationship between the government and the opposition will now see a slowing down on any sort of headway that could be made on the economic reforms front. ?The finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is very fond of using the term co-operative federalism, but this cannot work one way. Some states have concerns on the GST, those have to be taken on board. You cannot expect co-operation when you consistently deny the apsirations of opposition-ruled states. Uttar Pradesh does not have a single international airport, its request for one has been consistently denied. Every second proposal sent by Orissa is rejected, at the Gujarat government?s Vibrant Gujarat event, over 90 government?s were represented, but not the government of India,? said Jaitley.
This combative spirit is also said to be behind the dropping of a discussion on the Pension Bill in the standing committee on finance?s agenda. Sources in the party confirm that the BJP is in no hurry to bail the government out on key reforms. ?They cannot take us for granted. What happened in the PAC was shameful,? said a source. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha who was also a member of the PAC is the chairman of the standing committee on finance.
Parliamentary procedure states, that bills referred to departmental standing committee?s have to be cleared by these committees before being tabled in Parliament.