Government hopeful on GST; Opposition may rake up Rohith Vemula suicide, Arunachal issues

NEW DELHI: The budget session of Parliament, beginning in the last week of February, is likely to be stormy as the Opposition plans to corner the government on incidents like the Rohith Vemula suicide in Hyderabad and the role of governor in Arunachal Pradesh, while the NDA dispensation is hopeful that it will manage to get the crucial bills on GST, bankruptcy and real estate passed.

President Pranab Mukherjee will address a joint sitting of Parliament on February 23 where he will outline the programmes and plans of the government in the coming year. Jaitley and Naidu said they were hopeful bills on GST, bankruptcy and real estate will be passed in this session and were optimistic about Congress coming around to support the GST bill.

However, the opposition is gearing up to slam the government in Parliament on the Rohith Vemula case as well as the alleged biased role of Arunachal Pradesh governor in the political crisis prevailing in the border state. The BJP-led NDA government has emphasised that its ministers had no role in Vemula’s suicide.

The constitutional amendment bill for GST “has been cleared by one house of parliament. It has been supported by most political parties, and I am sure others will also see reason, and this law will become a reality very soon,” Jaitley said in his keynote address at the India Investment Summit on Thursday.

The government has tried to reach out to the Congress with Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting party president Sonia Gandhi. Congress wants GST capped at 18% in the constitutional amendment and scrapping of the 1% additional tax on inter-state sales to compensate manufacturing states.