The day after Narendra Modi met Sonia Gandhi over tea, his government has expressed confidence over the ending of the impasse over the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill, indicating that the bill could be thrashed out in the next round of discussions in the Parliament. “The Prime Minister himself rung up Sonia ji and Manmohan ji requesting them to come over for a discussion on various issues regarding the Parliament and to seek their cooperation. It was a good meeting,” Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said. Here, as per Naidu, are top 4 points that bring hope to Centre:
1. “I was present there myself and there had been a free exchange of views on all matters. The discussion was more on the GST Bill which was initially brought by the UPA Government,” Nadu said.
2. “Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has held extensive consultations with various states and that the bill has been referred to the select committee and they have made their recommendations,” Naidu added.
3. “Arun Jaitley explained yesterday the salient features of the Bill and Soniaji raised three issues. She said it was their bill so there was no question of not supporting it,” Naidu averred.
4. “Jaitley and I have been in constant touch with Congress leaders in both houses of Parliament over this matter. India is very keen that the GST, which is a revolutionary, taxation, transformation in the country, should be passed. Even students in Bangalore asked Rahul Gandhi that why this Bill was being blocked,” Naidu said.
The three demands by Congress over the GST Bill are that they i) want to cap the rate of GST at less than 20 percent, ii) scrap a proposed state levy and iii) create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.