Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met Congress leaders on GST ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Highlights
- Ministers Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar met Congress leaders over GST
- PM Modi to be briefed about negotiations with the Congress
- Government hopes to pass GST Bill in monsoon session of Parliament
With Parliament set to meet on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar met this morning with top leaders of the opposition Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, to persuade them to approve the national sales tax or GST.
The monsoon session of parliament has just 20 working days - so beating the clock is a challenge for the government. With a follow-up conferral fixed for Tuesday, the reform will not be introduced for review in parliament till at least mid-week.
Before then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be briefed about the negotiations with the Congress, which will, in turn, update its leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and consult former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Mr Jaitley, who has said the GST (Goods and Services Tax) will add up to two percentage points to economic growth once it replaces a tangle of state and central levies, stressed that the government would like "consensus". Mr Azad of the Congress described today's discussions as "free and frank".
Arun Jaitley met Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, to persuade them to approve the GST.
The GST proposal has been approved by the Lok Sabha where the government dominates, but is stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the Congress still has the most seats, despite gains by the ruling BJP after wins in recent state elections.
With the help of its allies and regional parties like Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, the government could likely push through the GST reform. But to allow that, the Congress has to let the Rajya Sabha to function and refrain from daily disruptions, a practice used by it in recent sessions to stall legislation.
The Congress and the government have been negotiating three points.
The Congress wants the government to cap the GST rate at less than 18 percent and state that limit in a constitutional amendment. The government says that's inadvisable because each time the rate has to be revised, the constitution would have to be amended .
The Congress wants the government to scrap a proposed 1 percent additional levy on the cross-border transport of goods - a move designed to compensate states that are skewed towards manufacturing.
Its third big demand is that the Finance Minister enlarge the powers of a council to resolve disputes on revenue-sharing between states.