Sushil Modi formally rejects offer to head GST panel

NEW DELHI: With the rift between the UPA government and the BJP widening , Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has formally turned down Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s offer to head the empowered group of state finance ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST). Modi conveyed this to Mukherjee recently after consultations with the BJP leadership, which is no mood to play ball with the government on issues like GST.

Modi told the minister that his taking up the offer would come in the way of his responsibility towards the state. However, according to party sources, Modi’s refusal to head the panel had more to do with the fact that the BJP-ruled states were opposing GST. Given the confrontationist approach adopted by the party, it would be difficult for Modi to accept a post which entailed evolving consensus among states and the Centre on GST. Modi, who had been made the offer last month, was told by his party leaders not to accept the post unless the government indicates its willingness to accept the changes in the bill suggested by party-controlled states.

The BJP leader was made the offer after Asim Dasgupta vacated it following the Left Front’s debacle in the West Bengal Assembly polls and the victory of the Trinamool Congress . The government would prefer to have an Opposition member as chairperson as it already has the backing of Congress states for GST. Dasgupta was appointed under the NDA regime by the then finance minister Yashwant Sinha. Gujarat, one of the BJP-ruled states which was initially backing GST, had turned hostile on the issue after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed Gujarat for the deadlock on GST. It’s not just the GST which is facing the brunt of the political war between the Congress and the Opposition.