Congress Minister Deshpande wants GST Bill passed in country’s best interests

BENGALURU: As the NDA government at the Centre struggles to get its ambitious GST Bill passed in the Lok Sabha due to disruption of proceedings by the Opposition Congress, a senior Congress Minister in Karnataka has insisted that the Bill requires urgent passage in the overall interests of the country, and states.

Karnataka’s Large & Medium Industries Minister R.V.Deshpande told ET that if India is able to switch to the goods & services tax (GST) regime from its current system of taxation, it will put the nation on a high-growth trajectory. According to him, if the GST system kicks in, the country’s GDP will go up by 1 to 1.5% to register a minimum GDP growth of 9%.

“We all should support GST. The Congress is a responsible party, and the GST is its baby. I am am sure, the GST Bill will be passed very soon. I have appealed to our party’s leaders that the GST law should be passed in the interests of States and the country,” the Minister said.

“We all should support GST,” the Minister said, and added the Bill was a baby of the Congress party, and it was the BJP which began the trend of creating hurdles for the ruling party when it was in the Opposition. “Just because the BJP created hurdles, it does not mean we too will. The Congress is a responsible party, and i think things will happen very shortly,” he said, and added no Congress leader has said anything negative about the proposed law.

Deshpande said he has appealed to the Congress leaders in Delhi to support the passage of the GST Bill at the earliest in the “interest of states and the country.”