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The day saw a battle of wits with the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress accusing each other for the delay in the passage of the GST Bill.
While the BJP said the Congress is blocking the economic progress by using the LalitGate issue as a pretext, the Congress reminded the BJP that the Bill did not get passed because of its opposition between 2010 and 2014.
GST should come, but the government was introducing it without any discussion in the Business Advisory Committee, party spokesperson Ahishek Manu Singhvi and “there is no change in Congress’s demand that all discussions will happen after the resignations of BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attacked the Congress sharply for disrupting the proceedings when the Bill was taken up for consideration and passing. Jaitley said the Congress’s policies were a liability on the economy of the country, when the party was in the government.
“It continues to be a liability on the economy of this country even when it is in Opposition,” he told reporters soon after the Rajya Sabha adjourned after continued disruptions.
He said the Congress has gone into a self destructive mode. “We do not grudge that. But in the process, it wants not only to disrupt India’s Parliament but also create obstacles in the path of national growth,” he said. The Congress ridiculed Jaitley’s arguments. The party said the BJP is accusing the Congress for covering up the Government’s failures at the economic front and lack of economic growth.
“The opposition of the Congress to the GST is based on national and public interest,” party spokesperson Ahishek Manu Singhvi said reiterating the Congress’s stand that the Bill should limit the GST to 18 per cent and the Constitution should be amended accordingly.
Singhvi added that excluding electricity, alcohol and petroleum from the GST’s ambit will not serve the purpose of a uniform tax regime.
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