Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said there was ‘no link’ between the National Herald and the GST issue while asserting that his party is for the tax reform measure if differences are resolved.
“There is some sense in the media that the National Herald case and the GST issue are linked. There is absolutely no link between the two, both are separate issues,” said Gandhi.
Congress has been protesting in Parliament on the National Herald issue alleging political vendetta after the Delhi high court refused to quash summons to its leaders, including party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Disruption in Parliament proceedings has delayed the taking up of the Goods and Services Tax Bill that seeks to bring in a uniform indirect tax regime across the country.
“Congress had brought in the GST. Modi ji and Jaitley ji had vehemently opposed it. They had called it all sorts of names. They rubbished it, said it cannot be done...it’s completely nonsense,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“We, on the other hand, were trying to push GST. GST is important because it makes India less complicated. It allows goods to move. It removes red tapeism. We are 100% proposers of GST,” the Congress leader said.
{{/usCountry}}“We, on the other hand, were trying to push GST. GST is important because it makes India less complicated. It allows goods to move. It removes red tapeism. We are 100% proposers of GST,” the Congress leader said.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress had stalled passage of the GST Constitution Amendment Bill in the last session of Parliament over its demand that a revenue-neutral rate not higher than 18% be mentioned in the bill.
The party is also opposed to states being given powers to levy additional 1% tax on supply of goods over and above the GST rate. “We have three differences with the BJP on the GST. You know what those are. There is that dispute mechanism where we feel that it should be effective. People who are involved with the dispute should not be the resolvers of the dispute,” Rahul Gandhi said.