Jaitley Apprehends Wash Out of Winter Session

The current scenario in the parliament made Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today post a message on Facebook.

Parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu and finance minister Arun Jaitley held a meeting with Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss the possible passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha. Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on tea to discuss the GST impasse.

“We have chose to meet again”.

The BJP leader said after summons were issued by a lower court against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, they moved the High Court that rejected their pleas.

Such a dramatic turn of events may fuel speculation that the absence of a sound legal defence has compelled the Congress to turn the encounter into a political duel. So many cases and you know how the judiciary functions. “The current session of Parliament is also threatened with a washout. All this is being indefinitely delayed”, he said on the social networking platform soon after a meeting with Congress leaders ended inconclusively. “The question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘are we being fair to ourselves and this country?”, he said referring to the Goods and Services Tax Bill.

Boldened apparently by Salman Khan’s acquittal in the 13 year old Bandra hit and run case, Sonia Gandhi today claimed that the National Herald case too involved the Gandhi’s driver.

“In democracy, the king or prince or common man, the law is equal for all and no one is above it. If you have done something, face it. Don’t hurt the interests of the country and its people”, he said.

So far, the allegations have been supported by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Jaitley himself described the talks as a “non meeting”. “If these differences are resolved, the Congress is ready to pass it (GST Bill)”, Mr Gandhi added. “The Rajya Sabha was disturbed because ruling Akali Dal leaders cut off the hands and legs of a Dalit man… girl is raped – should we seek the government’s permission to raise these issues?” He said that his party believed in the Bill but wanted the government to agree to cap GST rate at 18%, an independent dispute-resolution set-up within the GST council and to scrap 1% inter-state tax.

“There are no hopes now for this session, it is going to be a washout”, said Ramesh Dixit, a Lucknow-based political analyst.

While there are still a few days for GST to be passed and it has been listed for debate next week, the angry mood in Congress and daily protests mean chances of that happening are fading.