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There was hardly any forward movement on the GST bill today with no formal communication possible between the government and Congress on the issue.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu failed to get in touch with Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge despite making attempts twice.
While talks between the government and Kharge could did not fructify a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held confabulations with leaders of Congress in Rajya Sabha, the government today again batted for early passage of the measure and urged Congress to think what "legacy" they would be leaving behind.
At the meeting of BJP Parliamentary Party, Jaitley told partymen that Congress was "changing its stand" everyday on the GST issue.
The matter was also taken up by BJP leaders at a separate meeting with party chief Amit Shah during which they discussed how Congress was disrupting both Houses of Parliament on one pretext or the other.
When asked whether he will be meeting Kharge tomorrow, Naidu said, "There is no deadline given. I will continue to meet them."
Yesterday when Jaitley discussed the issue with Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress's Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma at a luncheon meeting hosted by Naidu, the Congress leaders had cited the absence of Kharge saying the issue better be discussed when he also joins the meeting.
Government sources said Naidu tried to reach Kharge twice between morning and afternoon but could not get through.
Asked whether he still sees a possibility of the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill for the roll out of GST in this session, Naidu merely said, "Some possibility may emerge even in last two three days."
He also pointed out that nobody including even Congress has opposed the bill.
Government believes that with a number of Opposition parties having already declared their support to the bill, even Congress will not like to vote against it provided the bill is taken up in the House.
It believes that the best strategy for the Congress is to disallow the bill to be taken up in the Upper House by disrupting it as the Chair will not be inclined to allow a Constitutional Amendment Bill like the GST to be taken up in a din.
Special Secretary Rashmi Verma said the union government is in favour of higher threshold limit for imposition of GST for traders.
"Administratively, it makes sense to concentrate on bigger dealers. However, final decision will be taken by the GST council", she said.
Expressing hope that GST Bill will be passed in Rajya Sabha, Verma said: "We are fully prepared to implement GST from 2016, our IT (Information Technology) infrastructure is going to be in place."
The Finance Ministry has also finalised core business processes on the basis of recommendations of several committees set up by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers.
She also informed that IT infrastructure for implementation of GST will be ready by the end of January.
Speaking at the same occasion, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah said there is a huge gap between tax collected and tax ought to be collected and GST needs to be looked in this perspective.
Shah also asked industry bodies not to lobby for tax exemptions.
"Under the GST regime, we cannot afford to keep moving towards exemptions. Every exemption distorts the entire chain. Every exemption provides arbitrage for somebody to misuse the law. This is something which industry needs to understand that an exemption regime will not be way to go forward", he said.
The CBEC chairman, however noted that dispute resolution under the GST regime is going to be a challenge.
"We have to keep uniformity between centre and state on how to handle disputes...But we are confident that ultimately these are process and journey in which we will learn and unlearn," Shah said.
The government proposes to role out new indirect tax regime GST from April 1, 2016. While the Constitution Amendment Bill is pending in Rajya Sabha, the Centre is getting the administrative preparedness for smooth roll-out of GST.
Besides the Constitution Amendment Bill, the Centre and state will have to pass their own GST legislation, the model for which is being finalised by the Centre.
GST, which is being touted as the most comprehensive indirect taxation reform since independence, will subsume various indirect taxes, including excise, octroi and service tax.
