'GST bill was not on agenda for WB's two-day special session'

Ratification of constitutional amendment enabling rollout of GST was not on agenda of the West Bengal assembly's two-day special session, a top state government source today said, downplaying talk of a last-minute brinkmanship by the state.

"The special session of the West Bengal assembly was called to change the name of the state. Name change is a much bigger issue for the state than the GST," the source said.

The assembly session ended yesterday after passing a resolution for changing the name of the state to 'Bengal' in English and 'Bangla' in Bengali.

The source said while some members wanted GST to be included in the agenda of the two-day session but there wasn't enough time.
 

"Certain members wanted GST to be included in the agenda that session, but that was not possible as more number of members wanted discussion on dengue situation. We had three hour discussion on dengue," he said.

GST, he said, is an important legislation and "the assembly cannot pass it without discussion."

The constitutional amendment needs ratification by half of 29 states and two union territories for GST to become reality. So far 13 states have approved the legislation passed by the Parliament earlier this month and West Bengal delaying or deferring a ratification will not derail it.

Trinamool Congress has been a vociferous supporter of GST and so West Bengal assembly not ratifying the constitutional amendment had raised eyebrows.

State Finance Minister Amit Mitra had previously said West Bengal Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee was supportive of GST since 2009, when she was the railway minister.

GST has drawn support across party lines. While BJP-ruled Assam was the first state to ratify the bill, JD-U's Nitish Kumar-led Bihar was the first non-BJP-ruled state to give its assent. Himachal Pradesh was the first Congress-ruled state to do so. Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi has also ratified the bill.

Telangana and Mizoram approved the legislation today. The other states that had previously done that include Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Mahrashtra and Haryana.

BJD-led Odisha is going to hold a special session of the assembly to ratify the bill on September 1 while Goa assembly is having a special sitting on August 31.

Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are likely to ratify the law in September while Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are likely to call assembly session soon.