Rajya Sabha numbers make GST bill talks binding on NDA government

NEW DELHI: The government has listed the goods and services tax ( GST) bill in the Rajya Sabha for this week, but it’s unlikely that it can get the bill passed without tedious negotiations with Congress-led Opposition, people involved in the exercise feel.

The manner in which Congress and a group of Opposition parties have formed “a committed bloc of above 90 members” will force the government to continue negotiating with them, as without this bloc it is impossible to get the required two-thirds support in the Upper House.

After the Grand Alliance’s victory in Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has qualified its backing to GST bill, underlining the need for the Congress to be on board. This makes a committed 92-member opposition bloc that includes Congress (67), JD-U (12), RJD (1), IUML (1), KCM (1), CPM (9) and CPI (1). In addition to this 92, some of nominated members too align with them.

This also means that even if the government rallies other non-NDA parties such as SP, BSP, BJD, TRS, TMC, NCP and even AIADMK and DMK, the combined tally would not be twothirds of the House with effective strength of 240.

It is this reality of numbers that has made the government reach out to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and prompted some senior ministers to say they want the GST bill “passed only with Congress support”.

This is different from its strategy in the last two sessions when the attempts were to try and push the bill by isolating Congress.

Congress sources maintain the party wants the government to “resume threadbare discussions on all stated conditions”. While 1% inter-state tax is being junked, there are still hectic bargain on two other conditions: of capping GST rate at 18% and framing independent dispute-settlement body.

While informal talks are on, structured meetings are expected only after Sonia Gandhi returns from abroad and some key minister get free from important engagements this week.

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury is now seeking an-all party meeting. “At the time of referring GST Bill to select committee, government had agreed to inform Parliament about the details of their discussions with states. That has not happened. We want to know what government has done with the Asim Dasgupta panel proposals. While listing the bill for this week is a good salesmanship, what matters is government addressing issues raised by Opposition,” he told ET.

The Congress and like-minded parties are also keeping the demand for the sacking of minister VK Singh as a contingency floor strategy to limit government’s manoeuvrability just as they has used Lalit Modi issue and a C&AG report in the past two sessions.