National exec meet: BJP decides to call Congress' GST bluff; to move bill in Monsoon session

Besides the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, one key issue that is informally being talked about on the sidelines of the BJP national executive meet in Allahabad is the party’s strategy for the passage of the critical economic reforms bill – the GST. The Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST), arguably one of the country’s biggest reforms in the last two decades,  has been stuck in limbo in the Rajya Sabha for a long time due to the Congress’ stiff resistance, forcing the Modi government to be on an endless wait. [caption id=“attachment_2831548” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, BJP chief Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi and senior BJP leader LK Advani at the BJP national executive meet in Allahabad on Sunday. PTI[/caption] Come the monsoon session of Parliament, and the situation might change. The BJP leadership has decided to move the GST Bill for passage in the very beginning of the session, which is expected to begin around 18 July. Political strategists of the Modi government think that they have for long tried to seek cooperation from Congress—Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to a discussion over tea, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley meeting Rahul Gandhi, and a series of other front and back channel meetings with other Congress leaders – but nothing seems to have helped . They believe that it’s now time to call the Congress’ bluff and to expose them. A senior minister told Firstpost, “We have exhausted all avenues available under the Indian parliamentary constitutional system. We have done everything possible we could to convince the Congress to let it pass – it has also gone through rounds of Standing Committees and Select Committees, been debated and discussed inside and outside of Parliament," “The Congress’s bluff has to be called now. Let the Congress have the courage to issue a whip and vote against the bill. If it does so, it will risk international condemnation. The world is waiting for the GST Bill,” the senior minister said. Since the GST is a constitutional amendment bill, the BJP need two-third of  the total members of the Upper House present and voting (163 votes in a full house) and the higher of 50 percent of the Upper House (123 out of 245 votes). “If the Congress does not support the passage of the GST Bill, it will have only two other options – either to issue whip to its members to reject the bill or create ruckus in the house. Either way they will be exposed”, the minister said. He however, hopes that better sense will prevail in the Congress party and that it “had taken lessons” from the way people have responded to its obstructionist politics. The BJP’s new found assertiveness stems from the buoyancy it received since the conclusion of the latest round of Assembly polls and biennial election in the Rajya Sabha. Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is now actively pushing for the passage of GST , Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is agreeable, and now that the Left has come to power in Kerala, it too is pro GST. Samajwadi Party, BSP, JD(U), RJD, BJP are all on with the Centre on this count. It is only the Congress, Rahul Gandhi in particular, who is against it. Also, in the recent biennial elections in Rajya Sabha , the BJP made gains on account of three unexpected seats – one each from Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand – besides gaining some others dues to their increased strength in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. For the first time, the BJP has breached the 50 mark in Rajya Sabha, to go up to 54 and the Congress has come below the 60 mark. In the Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP leadership displayed assertiveness and vigorously pushed for any additional seats it could win. It yielded dividend on it. Sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is exasperated with Congress’ negativity and obstructionism. “Now is a situation where we can’t really let Congress rest in peace”, a senior BJP leader said. What he said has manifested in various forms at frequent intervals. Responding to a query on the Rajya Sabha results at a media briefing, Telecommunication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “This is the success of our strategic planning. We wanted to raise our tally of seats in the Rajya Sabha for obvious reasons, and we have been successful. But nobody had expected the way Congress splintered, particularly in Haryana during the Rajya Sabha polls.  The Congress’ weaknesses have been exposed.”