GST rollout: War of words erupts in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Speaker expunges remarks

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta on Wednesday expunged the “intimidating and unparliamentary” words used by members during heated exchanges in the House over the last two days and directed the media not to report them. [caption id=“attachment_3778591” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Gupta was ruling on a petition moved by opposition National Conference (NC) MLA Devender Rana, seeking an FIR against PDP minister Imran Ansari for his “intimidating” comments against him during a discussion on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the state on Tuesday. “It is my hand-folded request to the members not to use unparliamentary language. I apologise on behalf of those who used unparliamentary words. The members should exercise restrain while responding to statements,” he said. Meanwhile, the discussion on the implementation of GST in the state continued for the second day as the BJP members and Independent MLA from Udhampur Pawan Gupta supported the extension of the 101st amendment to the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. The amendment to the Constitution last year enabled the Centre to roll out the new tax regime across the country. State BJP chief Sat Sharma claimed that the revenues of Jammu and Kashmir would go up by Rs 10,000 crore annually after the implementation of GST. However, opposition NC and Congress members continued to oppose the new tax regime in its current form and demanded a separate bill in the Assembly, which would safeguard the special taxation powers enjoyed by the state under Article 370 of the Constitution. Ali Mohammad Sagar of the NC alleged that the Centre’s resolution on GST was an “attempt to erode the special status of Jammu and Kashmir”. “This resolution is for eroding the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, which is dangerous. So far, there have been political attacks on the special status, now the attack is on the financial powers of the state,” he said.