The meeting of the government with the Congress on the Goods and Services Tax Bill remained inconclusive. Both the sides said that the absence of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, was the reason for not holding a structured discussion on the Bill. The talks will resume on Tuesday.

The Congress, however, questioned the government’s “obsession” with one Bill. “We didn’t have structured discussion today. Since the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha is not here, we told the ministers that it would not be proper for us to hold a discussion on an agenda. We have agreed that we will meet again,” said Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu attended the meeting from the government’s side. Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia participated in the discussion from the Opposition’s side.

Sharma said the Congress is in favour of the Bill, but it should not be hurried. “They should not be over-obsessed only with one Bill, the GST. All legislations are important. Unfortunately, GST was delayed was five long years and leading the charge against GST was the BJP and the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. But Indian economy didn’t go to deep freeze,” he said.

Retorting to Jaitley’s comments that the reason for a washout of the Winter Session is changing by the hour, Sharma said it is the government who keeps giving issues to the Opposition.

Related Topics