Monday 14 / July / 2025
New Delhi: The GST bills in their present form were "not acceptable" to the Congress, but the party sought to tread cautiously to avoid being seen as against the tax reform measure. At a key strategy meeting of Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha chaired by party vice president Rahul Gandhi, it was decided to raise the concerns of the public on the GST bills and seek necessary amendments.
According to sources, Rahul told the members that the party should play the role of a constructive opposition and should not be seen as against the GST legislations. He also told the members to raise the issue of the farmers' distress and press for a farm loan waiver in parliament.
Senior party leaders in the Lok Sabha suggested that the Congress should not be seen as the one opposing the tax reform legislation as it was during the United Progressive Alliance government that the GST bill was initiated to simplify tax structure.
The meeting that lasted around 30 minutes was also attended by Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. After the meeting, Rahul did not answer any queries pertaining to the meeting or about the structural changes that are required to be carried out in the party post the party's poor show in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. This was Rahul's first meeting with the party MPs after the Uttar Pradesh poll debacle. After the election results, he had gone abroad to bring back his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi after medical treatment.
Earlier Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the GST bills are based on the principle of "shared sovereignty" and that the government wants to pass these landmark tax reforms through consensus. Jaitley was briefing the party MPs after BJP's parliamentary party meeting here which was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting.
"The finance minister in detail briefed the party MPs about all the four Goods and Service Tax(GST) bills and said these legislations are based on the principle of shared sovereignty," Kumar said, adding they were drafted after detailed discussions in the GST council which comprises all states.
Jaitley in detail explained the four bills -- Central GST, Integrated GST, Union Territory GST and the Compensation Law -- to the MPs and how these legislations would be beneficial, Kumar said. Kumar added that government wants to pass these bills through consensus which was also mentioned by Jaitley in his address.
The meeting was also told that the new legislations will usher in a one-nation one-tax regime, Similarly, the prime minister had earlier said and conveyed to all parties that the government wants to pass GST bill through consensus and these bills will be beneficial for the common man, Kumar said. Modi had said that the passage of these bills would lead to one tax regime for the entire country.
On Monday, Jaitley had introduced the four GST bills to implement the biggest tax reform since independence. The government proposes to launch GST from July 1. It is estimated that the rolling out of the GST can add up to 2 per cent to India's economic growth.
