The Indian Government is willing to talk with the main opposition party-Congress for backing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The Janta Dal (United) and Biju Janta Dal pushed the government to opt for a give-and-take conversion with the opposition on the GST Panel and finishing one per cent inter-state tax (CST).
President of the JD(U), Mr. Sharad Yadav who leads in the alliance of Bihar government with Congress, said, his party “supports the GST bill in its current form” but wants “the government to sort out the pending issues with the Congress so that the bill can be passed with maximum possible consensus”.
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Leader of Biju Janta Dal, Bhartuhari Mahtab has already told that his party also wants to decrease the GST rate at 18 percent and scrapping 1 percent inter-state tax (CST). There two demands are similar to Congress’s main demands.
Sharad Yadav president of JD(U) told, “Our party supports the GST bill in its current form as the legislation can help states such as Bihar earn more revenue. However, we want the bill be passed with maximum possible consensus in Parliament. For that, the government should sort out the issues the Congress has with the bill so that it can be taken up.”
Mr. Yadav further added these words in his comment, “We want Parliament to function and discuss issues such as farmers’ problems, rising prices, unemployment, growing intolerance, attack on functional autonomy of institutions and constitutional principles. Therefore, the onus is on the government to reach agreements with the Opposition to make Parliament function, pass legislations and discuss issues.”
On the other hand, Mr. Mahtab added, “BJD has certain conditions on GST bill. Firstly, there is a larger consensus among parties that the GST rate be capped at 18 per cent and our party too demands the same. On the 1 per cent inter-state tax, BJD originally wanted it to be extended to mineral-bearing states such as Odisha too, instead of limiting it to only manufacturing states. If that cannot be done, we have no problems with government scrapping the proposed 1 per cent tax itself.”
