Ready to meet Rahul Gandhi on GST bill: Venkaiah Naidu

Dated 15th December, 2015

Worried about the fate of the goods and services tax bill due to frequent disruptions in the Rajya Sabha, the government indicated on Monday that it was ready to tread the extra mile to secure the Congress support for the proposed legislation, with parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu saying that he was willing to visit Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's residence to discuss sticking points. 

Naidu, who has held a series of confabulations with various top Congress leaders over the past 10 days over the GST bill, is still optimistic about passage of the bill though the luncheon meeting with Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia was inconclusive. 

Sources said Naidu had visited Kharge at his residence last week to discuss the bill. Naidu had also called Scindia to his house for a discussion and took up the issue with another senior leader M Veerappa Moily. "As parliamentary affairs minister I am disappointed. Every day they seem to be inventing new excuses to stall Parliament... I can meet Rahul Gandhi to discuss the bill. I am not only ready to go to his house for this but I am willing to take along our finance minister as well, if needed," Naidu said.

Other Union ministers talked to felt that the Congress was trying to buy time till the National Herald case hearing takes on December 19, and will take a call only on the basis of how the issue plays out in court. This would leave a window of three days for passage of the bill. 

MoS for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi charged the main opposition had turned into "All India Confused Congress". "If Congress thinks it will get some political benefit out of this it is mistaken. Some people in Congress who have a feudal mindset are against the bill. When Congress was in power it used to do a self-goal every day and now in the opposition it is engaging in a hit-wicket every day." 

(This article is published in The Economic Times on 15 Dec, 2015)