A day after the Union Cabinet cleared changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill, the big ticket reform agenda of the Government gained momentum on Thursday with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reaching out to Opposition parties amid hopes that the Congress will come on board on the issue and the legislation will finally come in the Rajya Sabha (RS) early next week.
In a bid to reach a consensus, Jaitley held one-to-one meetings with leaders of the Congress party, left parties, the SP, the JD(U) and the BJD and discussed with them provisions of the GST Bill. The 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill has not been brought in the RS since the Congress has doggedly opposed it, demanding among other things, a cap on the levy in the Constitution Bill.
Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian too accompanied the Finance Minister
during the discussions with political leaders.
Meanwhile, the Business Advisory Committee of the RS met on Thursday to discuss the agenda for the coming week, but the GST Bill is yet to be listed in the business agenda.
Earlier, Jaitley also had joint meetings with RS leaders of the CPI(M), the CPI, the Trinamool Congress, the SP and the BJD where these parties asked the Centre to assure the States that their financial needs would be taken care of before the GST Bill, which take away the States’ right to raise resources, is brought. left parties sought an all-party meeting on the issue.
According to sources, the Finance Minister interacted with leader of Opposition in the RS Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Central Hall of Parliament to arrive at a consensus on all pending issues relating to the tax reform Bill. He also met the Deputy leader of Opposition in RS, Anand Sharma.
“A serious effort is being made to bring a consensus on the GST Bill,” Sharma said.
The Finance Minister also reached out to SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the Parliament.
In a clear indication of the Government’s efforts to enlist support of all the parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also seen holding discussions with Yadav when the RS was adjourned briefly during Question Hour.
Modi remained seated in the House during the brief adjournment and spoke to Yadav and another SP member Neeraj Shekhar.
“The progress on the GST is slowly building up. let the Congress come on board. Things may shape up next week,” a senior Union Minister said.
“The GST Bill is only meant for imposing a tax. It does not deal with Centre-State relations. So, a resolution has to be found outside the Bill and the Government has to come out with an assurance. We will have to see how the Government addresses this issue,” Yechuri said.
Asked whether Jaitley had indicated when the Bill would be brought to the RS, the CPI(M) leader said, “There is no indication. It will all depend on what is happening between the BJP and the Congress. We were merely informed about the discussion the Government had with the Congress. There was no scope for a discussion.”
He also said there is “nothing in writing so far” on what the latest Bill actually says. The CPM leader also demanded an all-party meeting on the GST.
Accusing the Narendra Modi Government of going by the strength of the parties in Parliament to hold discussions on the GST Bill, he said, “So we are immaterial in terms of number of seats we have. It is a game between the BJP and the Congress”.
The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared changes in the GST Bill, dropping 1 per cent manufacturing tax and providing guarantee to compensate States for any revenue loss in the first five years of rollout of the proposed indirect tax regime.
Headed by the Prime Minister, it decided to include in the Constitutional Amendment Bill that any dispute between States and the Centre will be adjudicated by the GST Council, which will have representation from both the Centre and States.
The changes passed by the Cabinet are to the Constitutional Amendment Bill that was approved by the lok Sabha (lS) in May last year. Once the RS approves the legislation, the amended Bill will have to go back to the lS again for approval.
With States on board and the Cabinet approving the amendments, the Government is hopeful of passage of the Bill in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, which concludes on August 12.
Meanwhile, stock markets kept their winning run going for a second session as the BSE Sensex gained over 184 points to 28,208.62, a nearly one-year high, on more positive signals on the GST Bill and improvement in corporate earnings.