There's some good news. The Parliament deadlock over the Goods
& Services Tax (GST) bill is over as the Rajya Sabha broke through
the stalemate by passing the bill. Except AIADMK which staged a walk-out
over the amendments to the bill, there was unanimity over seeing it
through.
The smile on Union Finance Minister Arun Jatley's face resembles satisfaction after a prolonged war. Though there is still some more time before the GST Bill becomes a reality (It will be back in the Lower House to include the amendments and after that it has to seek the endorsement of half of all the states) the mere victory in the Upper House now opens a field where parties will try to score a brownie point over the bill.
Looking ahead, elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat coming up, one needs to be a novice to ignore the credit game up ahead. If one thought, the passing of the GST bill gave a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image, then let's not undermine TMC, Congress, Left, SP and BSP which would go the whole hog in cashing in on the passage of the bill.
Rewind a bit, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after winning the people's verdict spoke of siding with the NDA government on GST. "We have ideological differences with BJP but we will always support on issues that are beneficial to the people. We will support GST,” she had said.
P Chidambaram, a former minister from Congress termed GST as Good Sense Triumphs giving an indication of things to come. NDA's alliance partner Shiv Sena would rather prefer crediting UPA with introducing the bill thus taking a swipe at its almost estranged partner BJP.
There are two many issues of serious concern that let political parties to play on to woo voters. Dalit bashing, Jammu & Kashmir, atrocities on women, lack of jobs to mention a few. And GST opens up the field further as our leaders look to use it to their benefit to reach out to the people.
There's a lot at stake for our lawmakers. If TMC wants to make a national presence, then Congress will try to make inroads into Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat and regain some lost ground. BJP on the other hand would go about town for being the party which took the lead to finally pass GST in the Rajya Sabha. The rest in the reckonings too have their agendas.
GST might have given a weapon to Modi and his team in the wake of the flak his government is receiving courtesy the turbulences India is dealing with, but the competition is only going to get tougher as Modi's rivals will leave no stone unturned to make maximum political capital out of GST.
Keep your eyes open! And watch this space for more as the battle lines are drawn!
The smile on Union Finance Minister Arun Jatley's face resembles satisfaction after a prolonged war. Though there is still some more time before the GST Bill becomes a reality (It will be back in the Lower House to include the amendments and after that it has to seek the endorsement of half of all the states) the mere victory in the Upper House now opens a field where parties will try to score a brownie point over the bill.
Looking ahead, elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat coming up, one needs to be a novice to ignore the credit game up ahead. If one thought, the passing of the GST bill gave a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image, then let's not undermine TMC, Congress, Left, SP and BSP which would go the whole hog in cashing in on the passage of the bill.
Rewind a bit, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after winning the people's verdict spoke of siding with the NDA government on GST. "We have ideological differences with BJP but we will always support on issues that are beneficial to the people. We will support GST,” she had said.
P Chidambaram, a former minister from Congress termed GST as Good Sense Triumphs giving an indication of things to come. NDA's alliance partner Shiv Sena would rather prefer crediting UPA with introducing the bill thus taking a swipe at its almost estranged partner BJP.
There are two many issues of serious concern that let political parties to play on to woo voters. Dalit bashing, Jammu & Kashmir, atrocities on women, lack of jobs to mention a few. And GST opens up the field further as our leaders look to use it to their benefit to reach out to the people.
There's a lot at stake for our lawmakers. If TMC wants to make a national presence, then Congress will try to make inroads into Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat and regain some lost ground. BJP on the other hand would go about town for being the party which took the lead to finally pass GST in the Rajya Sabha. The rest in the reckonings too have their agendas.
GST might have given a weapon to Modi and his team in the wake of the flak his government is receiving courtesy the turbulences India is dealing with, but the competition is only going to get tougher as Modi's rivals will leave no stone unturned to make maximum political capital out of GST.
Keep your eyes open! And watch this space for more as the battle lines are drawn!
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