New Delhi: Accusing the Congress of see-sawing with their stand over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday hit out at former finance minister P Chidambaram statement on the landmark bill accusing the grand old party of not wanting the nation’s economy to progress.
“So far the Congress party has been at great pains trying to tell everyone that this is their bill. They have been saying that they are the ones who have made this bill and wanted it passed. Now Mr. Chidambaram seems to be saying that now it’s a flawed bill. Are they playing a joke on national by constantly saying that the bill needs only minor tinkering?” BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI.
Questioning Congress’ stand on the bill, he said that it was baffling as everyone in the nation knew that the GST Bill was in the interest of the economy and everyone and deserved to be passed.
“So why this stand? Are they somehow feeling that they don’t want the economy to progress? They will have to give some serious replies,” Kohli said.
This statement comes in the wake of Chidambaram’s remark that the GST Bill must not be passed as it was full of ‘flaws’.
“This bill is flawed and I think its better that we don’t pass the bill rather than pass a flawed bill,” Chidambaram said during an event.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said had said earlier that the GST Bill will be passed in Parliament in ‘just 15 minutes’ with Congress support if the Narendra Modi-led Centre accepted the conditions laid down by his party.
“We don`t want the taxes that are imposed on you to fly into the sky. That is the single biggest difference between us and the BJP. There are two other differences…one is the idea of dispute resolution. We are saying that the dispute resolution mechanism must be fair and must be neutral, otherwise it will cause problem in implementation,” Rahul said.
Adding that their third demand was not a big issue, he said that the demands by the Congress were not unreasonable and assured that they day their terms were accepted, the GST Bill will be passed in 15 minutes. (ANI)