Fight for seniority between Lok Sabha and 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.

Responding to Mr Sharma’s objections, he said when the Bill came up for consideration of the House earlier, a time of four hours was fixed for a discussion by the business advisory committee. Thereafter, he said, some members wanted it sent to the select committee, which had now returned the Bill to the House along with the amended Bill, and it should be taken up for consideration now.

Earlier, the House returned the Appropriation (Railways) No. 3 Bill, 2015 and the Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2015 as passed by the Lok Sabha. Some members also raised the issue of protocol, alleging that Upper House members were considered lower than Lok Sabha members, and that seniority was not given any consideration.

Samajwadi MP Naresh Agarwal, who raised this point, said the government, while forming vigilance committees in each district, made Lok Sabha members chairmen and not anyone from the Upper House. “Which House is superior or inferior? Will the Rajya Sabha remain lower than the Lok Sabha? As per protocol, the Rajya Sabha chairman is higher than the Lok Sabha Speaker. He is even above the Prime Minister. Will members of this House be insulted?,” he said.

This forced deputy chairman P.J. Kurien to tell the government: “It is a serious matter... Why don’t you make the senior (member) chairman and the junior member as co-chairman?” Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “This has been continuing from past.”