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SP rules out blanket support to GST Bill

BSP, JD(U) to back bill; Akhilesh slams Maya
Last Updated 01 December 2015, 19:36 IST

Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recurring praise for Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP on Tuesday made it clear that it would not extend blanket support to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

The stand of the ruling party of the UP dealt a body blow to NDA government's ongoing efforts to strike a consensus on the same.

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said here that his party would not support the GST Bill without ascertaining if its passage would result in any financial loss to the state exchequer.

“We will have to see if the state stands to lose in terms of revenue....the traders have been opposing the Bill...we can not support it without taking into account the pros and cons,” Akhilesh said in an informal chat with reporters here.

 Traders' organisations have recently held demonstrations in the state capital to protest against the GST Bill and urged the SP to oppose it in Parliament.

Akhilesh also lambasted BSP supremo Mayawati for extending support to the GST Bill, saying the latter voiced her support without thinking whether  it was in the interest of the state or not.

“The Bill is yet to be discussed...it is to be ascertained if it will cause loss of revenue to the state exchequer; yet the BSP declared its support for it,” the CM said.

On Monday, former UP chief minister Mayawati said while speaking in Parliament: “If the government feels that bringing the GST Bill will help in furthering the process of economic reforms, the BSP will support the passage of the Bill in Parliament.”

On Tuesday, the JD(U), too,  announced its support for the government’s economic reforms, including the GST.

“We support you on GST.  We also supported you in Insurance and Coal and Mines (Bills),” said the party’s Rajya Sabha MP K C Tyagi, while participating in the debate on “Commitment to the Constitution”.

Akhilesh, on the other hand,  also hinted at a hard bargaining on the issue of GST, saying his government would first see if it was being compensated adequately after the scrapping of several central schemes.

Modi had on several occasions heaped praise on Mulayam for the latter's attempts to ensure that parliamentary proceedings were not disrupted, during the monsoon session. 

The session was virtually a wash-off because of the Congress and other opposition parties’ rigid demand for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the ‘Lalitgate’ issue.

Observers here had said Modi's praise as an attempt to win the SP’s support for  the crucially GST Bill, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA is weak.

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(Published 01 December 2015, 19:36 IST)

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