No headway, Congress refutes BJP's claims over GST
January 07, 2016  20:33
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Logjam continued over the Goods and Services Tax Bill today between the government and the Congress, which dismissed Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu's meeting with party chief Sonia Gandhi as 'all optics' and alleged that there is no end to the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'obduracy' on the issue.

"What proposal? There is no proposal from the government side. If he had to accept our demands why would Finance Minister Arun Jaitley say that shrinking Congress strength in Rajya Sabha will make the GST happen," party spokesperson Kapil Sibal said.

He also rebuffed suggestions that the government accepted the demands of the Congress and sent a proposal to Gandhi through Naidu.

Claiming that the BJP was not ready for any compromise with the opposition party on the issue, Sibal said, "The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch have red-flagged the reform measure."

When asked why Naidu met Gandhi if there was no forward movement on the GST, he said, "This is all optics. Naidu came and met Sonia Gandhi. They have to show all this. Had there been anything substantial, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jaitley would have gone on Twitter now."

A party functionary separately said that the government is resorting to these 'optics to divert attention' from Pathankot attack.

The BJP, meanwhile, accused the Congress of not being serious about the GST, and said the opposition party's priority was 'development and protection of its ruling family'.
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