New Delhi: Ahead of the midnight tryst with GST, there is an all-out war between the government and the Opposition. Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left parties and RJD have decided to give the special event being organised in Parliament on Friday midnight a miss. The move has clearly disappointed the government.
Speaking exclusively to NEWS 18, Power minister and financial mind of the government, Piyush Goyal made a virtual last minute open appeal.
“I appeal to all opposition parties to attend this event. Most certainly it’s not about us taking credit. It’s to share the joy that we wanted all former prime ministers including Manmohan Singh to share the stage along with the president."
Taking a dig at West Bengal finance minister Dr Amit Mitra over his criticism that GST will hurt small time traders, Goyal said, “Mr Mitra may have been the head of some industry body, but he has not run a factory. I am a businessman myself and I know the pain of small traders.”
What has added another spin to the festivities around GST session is Nitish Kumar’s decision to attend the event and Lalu Yadav’s decision to skip the event. Post the battle over whom to support for Presidency, this is the second straight occasion when the two alliance partners in Bihar are not on the same side.
JDU spokesperson Ajay Alok told News18, “JDU is the only consistent party as far as the stand on GST is concerned. Rest are all perhaps indulging in symbolic protests.”
But the problem for the JDU-RJD alliance will be that Nitish Kumar is committed to implementing the GST. Will Lalu, whose son is the deputy chief minister under Nitish, walk out of alliance over GST? The answer will likely be known in the coming days.
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