A day after Kerala's finance minister, Thomas Isaac came out openly in support of the GST bill as presented by the BJP government, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, too, said that the state government has no objections to the GST bill.
Congress seems to be losing the battle on Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill and may not be able to oppose passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha during the coming monsoon session of the parliament.
A day after Kerala's finance minister, Thomas Isaac came out openly in support of the GST bill as presented by the BJP government, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, too, said that the state government has no objections to the GST bill.
After attending the state finance ministers' meeting in New Delhi, primarily called to bring a consensus on the GST bill, Issac had remarked, "I don't know what made them (Congress) make such an amendment" and that he "did not find any reason to stand in way of GST."
In New Delhi, Vijayan was candid in accepting that there were differences on GST between the state government and the CPM's party leadership.
"CPM had earlier raised some reservations. Kerala government has agreed with the Bill. In Parliament, when it was discussed, CPM has raised certain reservations. But Kerala government has no objections," Vijayan said.
Incidentally, Vijayan is also a politbureau member of the CPM.
While the state government is in favour of implementing GST, CPM has some reservations about it and may still put them across in the parliament. But how much the party will be able to hold out against the wishes of the Kerala state government, is yet to be seen.
Vijayan is in Delhi to attend the politbureau and Central Committee meetings of his party. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been opposing the Bill on the grounds that it will hamper the federal structure and will reduce the revenues of states.
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