Congress MPs threaten to oppose GST Bill

Congress MPs are threatening to oppose the GST Bill after the NDA members and ministers on Friday disrupted private members’ bill on the Andhra Pradesh Reorgan-isation (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Angry MPs of the main Opposition said they would not allow the Rajya Sabha to transact its business on Monday as the government, through BJP MPs and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal), did not allow the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

The MPs said that the NDA members and ministers used the SAD to prevent the bill from introduction but by doing so, the BJP opposed the Andhra Pradesh Reorga-nisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015. “This is unprecedented and the government will face the music next week,” they said.

The ruling party members played this trick at a time when the government is heavily depending on the Congress for the passage of the GST Bill in the current session.

Sources said the government has already managed the Samajwadi Party (19 members in the Rajya Sabha) and TMC (13) for the support and will try to neutralise the BSP (6) but the Mayawati-led party may not back it due to the pressure of UP polls.

A Congress strategist said the party cannot back the GST Bill without having a discussion within the party, suggesting that those involved in the informal talks with the government cannot take a decision.

But Friday’s development in the Rajya Sabha has antagonised the Congress MPs who do not want to cooperative with the government.

At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Kapil Sibal said they (the government) said the Opposi-tion is “obstructionist”, but the Rajya Sabha on Friday saw how a Union minister was obstructing a private member’s bill.

Ms Sibal said, “Today a minister did not allow the House to function. The treasury benches went into the well to protest a private member’s bill.”

Meanwhile, Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal threatened to move a privilege motion against two Congress MPs for their alleged “misbehaviour” with her in Rajya Sabha.

She alleged that Congress MPs Renuka Chowdhury and Jairam Ramesh did not allow her to speak in the Upper House when she sought to raise the issue of Parliament security in the wake of AAP MP Bhagwant Mann’s video uploaded on social media in the Upper House.

She accused Ms hawdhury of using “bad words” against her and expressed surprise at the behaviour of Congress members after the House had adjourned.

“I am surprised at the rude manner in which Jairam Ramesh and Renuka Chowdhury spoke to me. The two questioned me as to how I could come in the House not being a member and said I was disrupting its proceedings.

“I will move a privilege motion against them as they have misbehaved with me and this is not the manner you behave with a minister. They do not know the manner on how to talk to a woman,” Badal told reporters outside Parliament.

Ms enuka Chowdhury denied Ms Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s allegations of misbehaviour and dubbed her remarks as “a drama” and said “I did not converse with her at all during the official proceedings.

“I think she is fantasising about something and this is some weird attention-seeking gimmick. She is pushing BJP’s diversionary tactics in not giving five crore people of Andhra the special category recognition that is required,” Ms Chowdhury said.