Comments
With the Centre calling a meeting of MPs on Friday, the eve of the country-wide rollout of the GST, Opposition parties are yet to firm up a strategy for the Centre’s gala event.
The Congress has decided to hold discussions with other Opposition parties on the meeting of MPs organised by the Parliament Affairs Ministry on Friday night.
Though former prime minister Manmohan Singh has been scheduled to speak at the event, the Congress is yet to take a stand on the programme. A meeting of the party’s top brass held here on Tuesday decided to hold further consultations on the matter. One view in the party is that the Congress should boycott the event as there is no meaning in organising such a programme.
A Congress source said the party would on Thursday release a statement on the GST, in the backdrop of the various protests in the country demanding that the indirect tax regime’s implementation be deferred. The Congress has been claiming that the BJP made a number of unacceptable changes to the GST Bill, a brainchild of the erstwhile UPA government.
The Left parties have also asked the Centre to explain the “hurry” in implementing the GST. “Why this unseemly hurry with GST before putting foolproof and robust systems in place? After all, BJP opposed GST for nearly a decade, and the protest was led by the then Gujarat Chief Minister [and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi],” said CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.