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The Bill is slated to come up before the chamber on Monday. What is helping the government is a fractured Opposition and the Congress’ s stance of “not being principally opposed to the GST”. The party has diluted its demand for scrutiny by a select committee and is urging the government to “take on board the sentiments of the empowered committee of state finance ministers”.
The government appears confident of the Bill making it through the Rajya Sabha, where it is short in numbers, bolstered by the support of regional parties. The Trinamool Congress, the Biju Janata Dal, the Janata Dal (United) and even the Samajwadi Party (SP) are backing the government.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav recently met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, ostensibly a courtesy call. States like Bihar, said a JD(U) leader, have everything to gain and nothing to lose with the GST regime, since it is not a manufacturing state.
The Congress was forced to take a reality check on its demand that the Bill be sent to a select committee, after it found most Opposition parties, barring the AIADMK from Tamil Nadu, were not opposed to the legislation. Its own allies such as the IUML and the Kerala Congress were not adverse to a GST. The empowered committee of state finance ministers is presently chaired by K M Mani of the Kerala Congress (M).
The Congress had staged a walkout when the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Party spokesperson Sahkeel Ahmed said, “GST was brought in by us...we want the government to take their (empowered committee’s) sentiments on board.”
CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury today accused the government of not taking the Opposition on board. He said, "It (GST bill) cannot go without Parliament's scrutiny. It cannot be made into a law without going through the parliamentary procedure," he added. The Left parties had abstained from voting when the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.
The government it appears is confident that over the weekend it will get on board any fence sitters, but the tight number game this entails as it is a constitutional amendment is proving to be a headache. "Despite our best efforts and everybody being on board for the Land Boundary agreement, there were only 181 members present in the Rajya Sabha. As many as 63 members were absent. That is a big challenge, how to ensure that all members are present," confessed a senior Union minister.
With the government outreach seeming to click and fall in place, the contentious bill appears to be on its way to get the all clear from the upper house as well.
