Going soft to some extent, Congress said that the Party was not opposed to the Goods and Services Tax(GST)Bill and supports it with some riders. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said here on Tuesday that Congress had tabled the GST Bill for the first time on March 2011 but due to the opposition of the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, it was blocked by the BJP for four years. “We support the GST bill but we want four amendments to be made for the benefit of the consumers and others,” he told media persons here.
Ramesh said that Congress wants the GST as Goods and Simple Tax but Union Finance minister Arun Jaitely and Modi had made it neither good nor simple. However, the Congress leader was very critical on the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for keeping mum on the Parliament tangle and held him responsible for the entire controversy. Ramesh, said that the four amendments demanded by the Congress on the GST Bill are that tax limit should not be more than 18 per cent, withdrawal of one per cent additional cess after GST, compensation to the panchayats and municipal board as they will loose revenue during GST regime and lastly to set up a dispute settlement board to sort out dispute between the Centre and the states.
Admitting that two of the amendments of his party were not present in the bill prepared by the previous Congress government in 2011, he said the party came to know certain additional facts later on. “It is Modi who has made a U-turn, but on our part it is a minor deviation,” he said.
“The government was bound to seek support from the Congress over the GST bill as it would be a Constitution amendment Act where Rajya Sabha would have to pass the Bill with 2/3 majority,” Ramesh further said while replying that BJP is trying to take other Opposition Parties in confidence to get the Bill cleared with Congress’s support. When asked as the government was going for a special Parliament session to pass the GST Bill, Ramesh said ,”I have also information that Venkiah Naidu had talked to Congress lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge about the special session but still Congress will stick on its demand for four amendments,” he said.
On the land Acquisition Bill, Ramesh said under the pressure of the Opposition Parties, the government has withdrawn six of the nine important amendments that were brought in the 2013 Act which was brought through consensus. “The government brought 15 amendments through ordinances in the 2013 Act,” he said, citing the amendments demanded by his Party. “There are three points because of which the joint committee set up for the purpose is not able to present its report,” he said. To a question, Ramesh said it is regrettable that from the government’s side there had been no contact or discussion either formally or informally. “...if we can arrive at a consensus we could have done the same on the GST but the responsibility for the same rests with the government,” he added.