BHOPAL: During the discussion on the GST Bill in the Assembly here on Wednesday, the opposition Congress blamed the BJP for the delay in implementing GST in the country. Party legislator Mahendra Singh Kalukheda claimed that the delay had cost the nation Rs 10 lakh crores. He also questioned why the Bill had as many as 115 corrigenda. He said that the Prime Minister Modi was implementing the same measures and schemes, which the BJP had opposed, including GST, MGNREGS and Aadhar Card.
MLA Bala Bachchan said that electricity should also be brought under GST so that power rates are the same all over the country. Ramniwas Rawat said that the proposal for bringing petrol and diesel under GST regime should be accepted so that the two motor fuels are available at the same price all over the country. Rawat also questioned why the different sections of the Bill were sought to be implemented from different dates. He said that the right to give relief to tax defaulters should be deleted from the Bill. He said that such provisions only come to aid of people like Vijay Mallya.
Mukesh Nayak related a small story to emphasise that the BJP was saying the same things on GST which the Congress had been saying all the while. Nayak said that GST was step in the direction of nation building.
Strong-willed Modi made GST possible: Kailash Vijayvargiya
Participating in the discussion on behalf of the BJP, Kailash Vijayvargiya said that by implementing the GST, Modi had fulfilled yet another of his resolves. He said that it was due to the willpower of Modi that the GST could become a reality. He said that GST would give relief to the traders and the poor. The BJP national general secretary said that it would not affect the autonomy of the states. GST, he said, was mooted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government. The successive Congress governments only talked of implementing it but never took any concrete action. It took the Modi government to implement the measure. He thanked all the political parties for helping in implementing the GST.
