Arun Jaitley to meet Congress leaders on Monday to break GST logjam

New Delhi: Even as Parliament continues to witness disruptions, prospects of the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) brightened. While Union finance minister Arun Jaitley will meet Congress leaders on Monday, there is a growing concern among the Opposition not to look like they are blocking the bill with key states heading to polls next year.

The Congress is holding a meeting of key party leaders on Sunday after Mr Jaitley reached out to Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and deputy leader of the Congress Anand Sharma, respectively.

Former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram too reportedly held parleys with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the GST bill. Sources in the Congress and the TMC said that they would not like to block the passage of the GST bill.

“The message going out is not good. The upper middle class is a key constituency in West Bengal," said a senior TMC leader. Within the Congress, senior leaders want an early end to the impasse. "Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is in an agitationist frame of mind. But stretching the impasse too far will be counter-productive. Senior leaders will try to impress upon him to be flexible," said a senior Congress leader.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders maintained that the government has not yet conveyed to them what changes in the GST bill would be made after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the party’s concerns in the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress had maintained that its demand for inclusion of 18 per cent tax cap in the GST bill through a Constitution amendment was not non-negotiable. However, Mr Chidambaram has maintained that the report of chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian on GST has endorsed the Congress views. The government, sources said, is examining the report with an open mind. While the GST bill was listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, it could not be taken up because of disruption in the Upper House.
 

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