Govt hopes to pass GST test

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, APRIL 24

The Goods and Service Tax (Constitutional Amendment) Bill moved by the government today has the potential of becoming another proposed legislation that could witness a tussle between the ruling coalition and the Opposition.

The urgency shown by the government to front-load the Bill for consideration could be dictated by the need to alter the discourse in which the Opposition was increasingly attacking the Modi government for being “anti-farmer”, which got accentuated after the suicide of farmer Gajender Singh during the AAP rally recently.

There are indications that the energies of the government would be directed on passage of this Bill rather than the controversial land acquisition Bill. The government is confident that the GST Bill, which requires presence of two-thirds of members and voting in either House of Parliament or later ratification by half of the states, will go through since it enjoys support of the states and political parties too.

On the face of it, the argument sounds logical since the GST issue was debated for long and majority of states stand to gain in terms of increased finances. In addition, the government, through its parliamentary managers, has been reaching out to leaders of various political parties.

Yet, signs of a different approach being pursued by the Congress and a few allies such as the AIADMK indicate that the passage of this Bill may not be as smooth as the government envisages on two counts — procedural and tactical.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley successfully began discussion on the Bill despite strong opposition from the Congress, which wanted to send it for examination by the standing committee or even the AIADMK shows that the matter is not clinched on the political plane.

While Congress members reminded the BJP had stalled the GST reform originally planned by the UPA government, there are two views on whether to go with the Bill or stall its progress.