Mumbai:
Rahul Gandhi today said that the Congress will support the Goods and Service Taxes bill in Parliament and help pass it in just “15 minutes” once government accepts the conditions set by his party.
The Congress Vice President said a “compromise with the government is possible on GST, it is by siting across the table, the government is not taking it”.
“The day the conditions are accepted, we will pass the GST. It will take just 15 minutes,” he said during an interaction with management students here.
Asked about roadblocks in implementation of GST bill, Gandhi said, “It was Congress which brought in the GST legislation. The BJP then stopped GST in Parliament for seven years. Jaitley then did not allow it to pass. Narendra Modi, as CM of Gujarat, did not allow GST to pass.”
“We don’t want a GST where there’s no cap on taxes. We want a limitation on the maximum tax that can be charged. Also, dispute resolution must be fair and neutral. I don’t think its wrong of us to say that,” Gandhi said.
“Jaitley doesn’t have to tell me GST is good.I know its good. He doesn’t have to tell me its good,” Gandhi said.
“Jaitley had earlier said in an interview in England that it was the strategy of BJP to block Parliament. It is not the strategy of Congress to block Parliament,” Gandhi said.
Asked what could the government do to help farmers battling agrarian crisis and deficient rainfall, Gandhi said “We have made a slow transition from agricultural economy to knowledge economy and industry economy.”
“During UPA regime, we got a backlash on NREGA saying why were we doing this. Agriculture is a problem not just for the farmer but for industry also. When we were in government we had a strategy of supporting the farmers,” he said.
“Agriculture has become volatile. As a nation we have to support this sector. We were firm on giving minimum support price (MSP) to farmers,” he said.
“Sadly our current government has lost its focus. They are focusing not so much on farmers, not so much on agriculture,” Gandhi said.
