Congress leaders on Sunday met at 10, Janpath to decide on the party’s response to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, after which there were indications of a possible thaw in the party’s Opposition to the crucial tax reform measure.
Sources said former Finance Minister P Chidambaram briefed party president Sonia Gandhi that Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has endorsed most of the views of the Congress on the GST.
The brief meeting was also attended by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, Ashwani Kumar and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Further, to break the logjam between the Government and the Opposition over the passage of the GST Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be meeting Congress leaders on Monday. Jaitley had reached out to leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy leader of the Congress Anand Sharma for the passage of the crucial GST Bill last Friday.
The Congress will attempt to de-link its protest on the National Herald case from the GST Bill against the backdrop of the growing perception that it was trying to block the crucial legislation on an issue that has nothing to do with Parliament or the Government.
A senior party leader said that the party would use the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement on India-Pakistan relations,to end the stalemate in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress had adopted an aggressive stance on the National Herald issue, alleging ‘political vendetta’.
However, after drawing flak from certain quarters that the protest in the Parliament was not going down well with the public, the Congress
decided on course correction on Friday.
Azad clarified that the protests were not linked to the National Herald case but to its demand for action against ‘tainted’ ruling party Chief Ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh for a meeting at his residence to break the deadlock on the GST. The Congress finds itself isolated as the Trinamool Congress and the JD(U) have made it clear that they would not like to block the passage of the GST Bill.
Traders and industry bodies, including FICCI, will come out with a joint campaign to appeal to the political fraternity, including the Congress,
for the early passage of the GST Bill before the Winter Session of Parliament ends on December 23.