Naidu seeks support for GST bill, Congress points to its concerns

“We are in continuous consultation with our colleagues in the opposition”.

The Congress dissent note on the GST Bill, which was submitted in July by Madhusudan Mistry, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Bhalchander Mungekar to the Rajya Sabha had listed eight key points of friction.

Terming GST as the “need of the hour”, Naidu said: “GST should be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. They have to cap it with 18 per cent or 20 per cent, government has to come clean on that”, Congress leader Anand Sharma said. He said the government has established the parameters to have the best possible rates for GST.

In its present form, states have a two-third and the Centre, a one-third vote in the GST Council, which will decide on the issues based on a three-fourth majority.

The chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian today made a presentation in a meeting headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia and other finance ministry officials on the government’s plan to lower the GST rate to a more acceptable level.

The minister said that the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 would help in fight against corruption and he was hopeful that the opposition would support the government on these bills rising above party politics.

“Right now, what we are working on is to ensure that we have a consensus on GST itself and a few of the contentious matters that are associated with it. What the actual rate is, in any case, is to be established not by the constitutional amendment, but by the GST bill”.

Mr Naqvi said the government was committed to making the upcoming session successful and fruitful and it was in talks with all the political parties for this goal.

He said the passage of the proposed GST Bill would be historic, aimed at bringing about transparency in governance.

While the Opposition, united and emboldened after the Bihar election, is planning to corner the government on issues like Dadri and return of awards, the treasury side’s line of retaliation is likely to revolve around the theme that there was a “fabricated” campaign to defame the government. The move is to reach out to the Opposition at the all-party meeting ahead of the winter session commencing on November 26.

“No…it will not be like the Monsoon Session… we are not interested in washing out the session”, a Congress leader said.

Apart from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Left parties, most of the other political parties are ready to back the GST bill.