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  India   Attempts to isolate Congress may fail

Attempts to isolate Congress may fail

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Nov 26, 2015, 1:10 am IST
Updated : Nov 26, 2015, 1:10 am IST

Attempts to isolate the main Opposition Congress on the GST bill may not succeed as majority of political parties have serious doubts about it.

Attempts to isolate the main Opposition Congress on the GST bill may not succeed as majority of political parties have serious doubts about it. Although the government managers have kept the NDA intact on this issue and seem to have convinced the Janata Dal(U), besides the Trinamul Congress, for the support, the position of the AIADMK, BJD, PDP and AAP ruling in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi will become clear on the floor.

Asked whether the government is trying to isolate the main Opposition, a Congress strategist said the Congress is not the only party which has some doubts but there are other parties as well.

While the Congress is refusing to back the current bill saying it should not be one-sided and take care the interest of trade, industry and consumers, the Left wants the Centre to hold talks with the states on the GST as they will lose all legislative power on tax matters once it comes into force.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday told reporters, “We are open for discussions. Let us see how far they go ahead.”

Addressing a joint press conference along with Mr Kharge on the eve of the Winter Session of Parliament, Mr Azad said, “GST is our bill” and the stand has been voiced by various leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, more than once. Noting that the Congress has “very genuine concerns” on the measure, he insisted that the party wanted a pro-industry, pro-trade and pro-consumer GST which is “neither one-sided, nor lop-sided and help all three sectors.”

Mr Azad said that in the all-party meeting convened by parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, he confronted finance minister Arun Jaitley with his two reported statements on the issue of the Congress stand on the GST.

While one statement spoke of government planning to reach out to the Opposition, the other dismissed the Congress objections as “preposterous”, Mr Azad said, adding that the government then told the Opposition that the issue will be discussed with them. “We would like to support each and every bill on merit. Our concerns should be taken on board. For us, each legislation is important,” was the refrain of Mr Azad and Mr Kharge.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi