Contrary to recent reports suggesting that opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha will give a nod to the Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, the Congress said on Monday that the status quo continues due to what it described as the “mulish obstinacy” of the ruling BJP.
“The sequence of the BJP’s conduct smacks of hypocrisy,” senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told The Hindu . “Having vehemently the opposed GST bill for two and half years, it (BJP) was embarrassed to find that two of the three Congress demands were endorsed by the government’s own Chief Economic Advisor.”
What the Congress is asking for, Mr. Singhvi said, is that since the GST is an indirect tax — and therefore, “inherently prejudicial” to the tax payer — all the governments should be “prevented from increasing it beyond a maximum.”
In the last two Rajya Sabha sessions, the party remained cautious in criticising the contents of the bill because it brought in the GST in 2009. However, as the BJP introduced the bill in Parliament, it put forth three demands — a one per cent tax for manufacturers, a legally backed tax cap of 18 per cent for the GST rate and an independent disputes resolution body.
Maintaining its dominance over the Rajya Sabha, even though its seat tally in the House came down from 64 to 60 after the recent elections, the party seems unlikely to budge on its demands.
To get the GST through, the BJP needs the support of 154 members in the 245-member strong Rajya Sabha. This time, the government is counting on the support of 15 opposition parties, including Samajwadi Party, NCP, JD-U, BSP, BJD and Trimanool Congress and also hoping to negotiate with AIADMK, CPM and CPI.
In best case scenario, the total support the BJP can cultivate along with its five nominated members and four independents would be of 179 members, a number that is more than enough for the passage of the bill even without Congress. But if AIADMK, which has 13 members, does not extend its support to the BJP, the number will come down to 155—which is not enough for it to get through.
A senior Congress leader told The Hindu that there is no guarantee that the BJP will have the support of all the opposition parties since elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are round the corner.
“There is a great possibility that the crucial ones like SP and BSP, which has a good presence in the House, can turn against the bill,” the leader said.
