Congress stalls GST bill in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley attacked the Congress on Tuesday for stalling the nation’s growth after the Constitution amendment Bill to introduce Goods and Services Tax could not be debated in the Rajya Sabha after the government moved it for consideration as the Congress vociferously raised procedural issues over its introduction.

After the House was adjourned for the day as a constitutional amendment Bill cannot be taken up amid pandemonium, the government asserted it will “try every alternative mechanism” to get the Bill passed. Such a Bill requires a division of votes, for which every member has to be in his or her seat.

Amid slogan-shouting by Congress members, Mr Jaitley said the Congress was using the Lalit Modi issue against external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj as a “pretext” to stall this important tax measure.

Earlier, Congress leader Anand Sharma raised objections to the Bill’s introduction, saying it was neither discussed in the business advisory committee, nor was any time allocated for it. He objected to the Bill being listed without the consent of members.

As Congress members shouted slogans like “Modishahi nahin chalegi” and “Gujarat model nahin chalega”, Mr Jaitley targeted the opposition party, saying it “does not want the economy to grow” and was using one pretext or another to stall it. The finance minister said every political party supported the GST Bill, but the Congress was trying to stall it session after session.