After the standoff between the Government and the Opposition derailed the passage of several key legislations in the Budget Session, the deck was cleared on Tuesday for passing of the land Boundary Agreement Bill. But the fate of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill remained uncertain amid conflicting signals coming from the Congress camp. Similarly, the Real Estate Bill was put off “indefinitely” after the Opposition insisted on sending it to a Select Committee of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.
The land Boundary Agreement Bill, which was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, is set to get Parliament’s nod after the Congress came around to support the legislation. Though Congress leaders like Veerappa Moily also indicated his party might back the Government on the GST Bill, Deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma insisted that the Bill must be sent to the Standing Committee. The lok Sabha on Tuesday initiated the debate on the GST Bill.
The long-delayed GST Bill was taken up for consideration in the lok Sabha after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it, but its fate in the Rajya Sabha was still a matter of speculation.
The Parliamentary Parties of both BJP and the Congress are meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the situation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has already met leaders of allied parties and urged them to ensure their MPs are present in full numbers in the lok Sabha to ensure the Bill’s passage.
Anand Sharma, however, made his party’s position clear when he said that while they supported the GST regime, the present Bill needs
legislative scrutiny, an apparent demand for reference to the Standing Committee.
The Constitution Amendment Bill for rolling in the new tax regime was taken up in the lok Sabha after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected Opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.
“It has spent two-and-half-years before the Standing Committee. Thereafter, it has been to dozens and dozens of Empowered Committees of Finance Ministers under three different FMs and four different chairpersons.
It is only after this a consensus was reached between the Centre and the State Government “I request you and beseech you. After all, in the life of the nation comes an opportunity for all of us to rise above partisan considerations. Why delay it by one more fiscal year. Your States, the consuming States will suffer,” he said.
Seeking to bring the Opposition on board, he said all Congress-ruled States have supported the Bill and Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal and BJD-ruled Odisha would be the biggest beneficiaries from day one.
However, members of the Congress, BJD, AIADMK and CPI-M slammed the Government for “bypassing” Parliamentary Standing Committees by refusing to refer several Bills to it.
Jaitley said after GST, the Government proposed three more Bills on the powers of the Centre and the States. GST Bill is a Constitution Amendment Bill which has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the State legislatures.
Veerappa Moily, who initiated the debate, started with a teaser, “I stand to support GST” which prompted Jaitley to congratulate him on his party’s stand. However, the Congress leader later made a strong plea to the Government to send the legislation to the Standing Committee for wider consultation.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said when the BJP was in Opposition, it used to plead for sending Bills to the Standing Committees. He said crucial Bills like lokpal and Criminal law (Amendment) Bill were referred to panels for scrutiny though they were of urgent importance to the Government.
Kharge said the “dictatorial way and the Ordinance Raj” was not correct as the Government was “bypassing” business transaction rules of the lower House.
Earlier in the morning, the Cabinet approved the land Boundary Agreement Bill. This Bill is to operationalise the boundary agreement with Bangladesh covering Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya. The Bill will come in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and is expected to be passed, as it had accommodated the concerns of Congress-ruled Assam Government.
The Government will bring the Constitutional Amendment Bill for ratification of the land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh. It would require ratification of at least 50 per cent of the State legislatures before it comes into effect.
The clearing of the Bill by Union Cabinet came a day after the top leadership of BJP and RSS discussed the Bill with its Assam leaders and decided to include the territories pertaining to the State. The meeting, attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, along with RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, held at the residence of BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday lasted a few hours.
Sources said the top BJP RSS leadership discussed the Assam Assembly elections slated for next year and the party’s strategy for it as also the political ramifications of delinking Assam from the land Boundary Bill.
BJP leaders from the State had earlier demanded that Assam be delinked from the Bill as exchange of territories to Bangladesh had become an “emotive issue” in the State. Congress had demanded that Assam should not be delinked from the Bill and its territories be included in it and had opposed tooth and nail the exclusion of Assam from its ambit.
The Real Estate (Amendment) Bill was listed for consideration and passing but Opposition members objected to this, saying Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister Venkaiah Naidu had assured the House that it will be brought only after consultations with various parties.
The issue was raised by Naresh Agarwal of Samajwadi Party and he was joined by leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad. Both demanded that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee. Derek O’Brien (TMC) also joined to make the same demand.
Sensing the mood, the Government, which faces a number crunch in the Upper House, said it was not insisting on taking up the Bill even though it was listed.
Naidu said he had informed the House that he would not take up the Bill for consideration till consultations with parties were over. “I have started consulting political parties. I could not complete
the consultations due to the holidays. I have talked to some people on telephone and talked to some others today... I am not pursuing the Bill till the consultation process is complete,” he said.