New Delhi: A consensus seems to be emerging on the long-pending reform of the Goods & Services Tax (GST), with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian meeting leaders of the Congress, Left, the TrinamoolCongress, the SP and the JD(U) on Thursday to garner support for the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill in the current session of Parliament.
The Congress, which had raised three demands for supporting the Bill, changed its stand following Thursday’s meeting.
The party said consultations with Mr. Jaitley were “constructive and positive”, PTI reported.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yetchury, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress Leader Anand Sharma were among those who participated in the separate rounds of discussion that Mr. Jaitley held. The news agency also said that the government was in touch with AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
In anticipation, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the wording of the Constitution Amendment Bill that the State finance ministers had finalised on Tuesday. It also cleared the sole Congress demand — of dropping the proposed one per cent additional tax — that States had approved.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply