The Centre today tried to address the concerns of states on the Constitutional Amendment Bill on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at a meeting between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, who heads the empowered committee of state finance ministers.
“This has been a very useful meeting with the finance minister, aimed at convergence on issues relating to Constitutional amendment for GST. This is the closest convergence,” Dasgupta told reporters after the meeting.
The meeting came a day after Mukherjee assured Parliament that he was not trying to become a ‘super finance minister’ by taking veto power in the GST council. States, especially those led by parties other than the Congress, have strongly opposed the suggestion to give special power to the Centre on GST.