7.4.17

Manmohan lends strong support to GST bills

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lent strong backing to the GST bills. As amendments to the bills were being taken up in Rajya Sabha by deputy chairman P J Kurien, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said he was not moving them. “Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken this approach in the spirit of consensus and in respect of the federal structure,“ he said. As soon as the four bills were cleared, finance minister Arun Jaitley walked up to Singh and shook his hands. Singh congratulated the BJP leader on passage of the bills.

Earlier, while replying to doubts raised by several opposition members on certain provisions in the bill, Jaitley said the GST bill was a “collective achievement“ to which all states and political parties had contributed.

Several MPs expressed reservations over powers given to taxmen in the GST bill, or whether states would get enough share in it. Jaitley informed the House that even though J&K was not covered under GST due to Article 370, the state government was bringing its own legislation which would be aligned with the central arrangement.

The FM agreed that there were would be problems in implementing GST during the transition phase. 

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