 "Discussion slated on GST but with conditions")
Opposition parties and the government agreed on Monday, opening day of Parliament's monsoon session, to allocate five hours for a discussion on the goods and services tax (GST) Constitutional amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
However, the opposition had a caveat — they'd agree to discussion after the government reached out to all parties for a consensus on the issue.
A government source said the Rajya Sabha Business Advisory Committee had "in principle" allocated five hours for the discussion but no date. Government sources said more consultation with the Congress and other parties will take place in the coming days, to pass the Bill "unanimously".
A Congress leader said the party was still awaiting a "written" offer from the government about the three amendments it wanted in the Bill. A minister groused that the Rajya Sabha committee which examined the legislation and had a majority of Congress members had no dissent note in its report, given last July.
The government had agreed to discussions in both Houses on the situation in Kashmir, price rise, foreign policy and the recent events in Arunachal Pradesh. On Monday, the Rajya Sabha had a discussion on Kashmir and is to have a calling-attention motion on price rise on Wednesday.
Yet, far from these being signals that GST might be passed during the session, it seems both sides are likely to continue their grandstanding on the issue. One government source even said thee Congress in the Rajya Sabha was divided into those who were pro-GST and others indifferent to its passage.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned briefly, with Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati highlighting incidents of atrocities on Dalits in Gujarat. She said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was "anti-Dalit".
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman and Venkaiah Naidu, former finance Minister P Chidambaram, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Ram Jethmalani and the Samajwadi Party's Amar Singh were among 43 newly-elected and re-elected members of the Rajya Sabha who took the oath of office on Monday.
During the discussion on Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh ruled out a plebiscite in the state and blamed Pakistan for the unrest. The Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad and CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury appealed for a healing touch and that the government send an all-party delegation there, to talk to people.
The Lok Sabha adjourned for the day after paying tributes to sitting member Dalpat Singh Paraste and six former members who'd recently passed away. Prior to this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced his new ministers to the House. Conrad Kongkal Sangma, elected from Tura in Meghalaya, took the oath as a member. The seat had become vacant after the death of former Speaker P A Sangma.
In the morning, the PM told the media that, based on the talks with all parties over the past few days, the prevailing mood was to take "very good decisions, so that the country can move ahead on the path of development with greater speed".
