COIMBATORE, July 17:
Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said that the tax-rate cap on GST in the Constitution bill sought by the Congress was not feasible but hoped that the GST bill will be passed in the Monsoon session of the Parliament starting tomorrow, with a broad consensus.
“There is a broad consensus, with a few reservations. Tamil Nadu being a manufacturing state has opposed the bill. Congress wants a cap on tax rate in the constitution bill but it is not feasible and advisable… The GST bill is pending for the last eight years,” Naidu said.
“We want to pass the bill with consensus and not scrape through by majority,” he said as he hoped that the bill will be passed during the session.
Naidu recalled that the bill was being discussed even when Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister and his successor in the ministry P Chidambaram made some changes, which took shape after a committee comprising FMs of five states went through it.
The new generation wants the bill to be passed as they want empowerment, said Naidu, who was here to participate in the 4th Edition of India International Coir Fair.
Mindful that the Congress was expected to raise the issues in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand and Jammu and Kashmir in the Parliament, Naidu said they were welcome to raise them and added that ministers concerned would respond to them.
He, however, said that the issues in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were purely an internal matter of the Congress.
“Was it democratic… The way the Speaker disqualified some MLAs before voting,” Naidu asked.
To a question on implementing the M S Swaminathan Committee recommendations for farmers, Naidu said it was being examined and Government would take a call on it after detailed study.
To a question about the opposition from students who have availed educational loans over the handing of its recovery to a private corporate house, Naidu said he was not aware of the issue.
“I will go back to Delhi and discuss the issue with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,” he said.
Asked for his response to increasing attacks and ‘gag’ on freedom of press, Naidu, who is also the Information and Broadcasting Minister, said law and order is a state subject.
“The Centre can only send an advisory on the issue to state governments,” he said.
On selling Ganga water in public institutions like Post Offices, an issue which had drawn large-scale protests in this part of the country, Naidu said he was not aware of it.
“However, the government is not forcing anybody to buy it,” he said. (PTI)
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