The Congress’s desire to take ownership of the game-changing Goods and Services Tax legislation (that it had introduced while in power) played out this week in Parliament.
A day after Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said he was withdrawing his amendments to the Bill on the advice of former PM Manmohan Singh, another RS MP Kapil Sibal, underscored on Friday, at an official briefing, all the shortcomings in the GST Bills that were cleared by the Upper House on Thursday, repeating much of what he had said in the House.
Asked whether there was no contradiction between the accolades the party had given Dr. Singh on Thursday and his highlighting the loopholes in the legislation, Mr. Sibal said, “In the Finance Bill, too, we managed to get some amendments through in the Rajya Sabha, but they were rejected in the Lok Sabha, and so had no impact. So what was the point in moving amendments to the GST Bills?”
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No differences
Stressing there were no differences in the Congress on GST, he said, “We support GST, it was our Bill, but what has been cleared is not ideal. Dr. Manmohan Singh is one of the tallest leaders in this country; he behaved in a statesman-like fashion. He wanted to take it forward.” Then, why were the amendments discussed with other Opposition parties?
“There is nothing wrong in discussing amendments,” he said, adding, but in the end, on Dr. Singh’s advice, “we didn’t move them, as they would have been rejected in the Lok Sabha.”
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Later, Dr. Singh hailed the passage of the GST Bills and sought to play down the fact that it could not happen during his tenure, saying “let bygones be bygones”.