GST hopes revive as Venkaiah meets Sonia

Six weeks ahead of the budget session of Parliament, the Centre has started efforts to placate the Opposition Congress on the Goods and Services Tax Bill.

Renewing dialogues between the Centre and the Opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday and reiterated the BJP’s request for the Congress to cooperate in passing the legislation.

Indicating that the budget session could be convened early, Naidu told reporters after the meeting that the Centre is continuing efforts to bring consensus on the Bill and its passage at the earliest.

The Congress, however, responded cautiously to the Centre’s effort. The party said there has been no concrete assurance from the BJP to the three major concerns conveyed by the party, in the meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier had with Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the budget session.

Senior ministers have been meeting Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Anand Sharma on the issue.

Naidu said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has made the Centre’s stand clear on the issues raised by the Congress. “We had invited Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and discussed the GST and other bills with them. In the same context, I as Parliamentary Affairs Minister, today met the Congress President and recalled to her that as per the discussion held earlier, the Congress should finalise its stand. They had raised some issues, which were answered by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,” Naidu said.

He urged the Congress to take a quick decision on pending Bills. “Since the government has already spoken to the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress’ Deputy Leader in the House Anand Sharma in this regard, I reminded her that a quick decision should be taken and we should move forward immediately on the GST and the Real Estate Bill,” Naidu added.

The Congress has been demanding for limiting the GST at 18 per cent, no additional tax for producing States, and the formation of a dispute resolution panel.

Party spokesperson Kapil Sibal termed Naidu’s efforts as optics. “What proposal? There is no proposal from the government’s side. If he had to accept our demands, why would Finance Minister Arun Jaitley say that shrinking Congress strength in Rajya Sabha will make GST happen,” Sibal said. “This is all optics. Naidu came and met Sonia Gandhi. They have to show all this. Had there been anything substantial, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister would have gone on twitter by now,” he added.

“Had there been any formal assurance, the PM would have been first to speak. The FM would have said everything on his blog and started tweeting,” Sibal said.