New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday blamed Narendra Modi led Gujarat and Shivraj Singh Chouhan led Madhya Pradesh governments for stalling the indirect tax reform GST.
“When a consensus on GST was nearly reached, it was the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat that stalled further progress,” Chidambaram said at a media conference here.
“The issues that had been settled were reopened. The consensus reached on the draft of the Constitution amendment bill was broken and work on the GST Bill was interrupted,” the finance minister said.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an ambitious indirect tax reform, that according to several independent studies, is expected to give a huge boost to the economic growth.
Chidambaram also blamed the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for stalling another reform measure, the Direct Tax Code (DTC).
He said UPA and the Congress party remain committed to introducing and passing the DTC bill in the next Lok Sabha.
Chidambaram pointed out that BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had pleaded in favour of the GST and DTC.
The finance minister also blamed BJP leaders for stalling other key reform bills, including Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill.
“I got the impression that it was the opposition of Shri Yashwant Sinha to cooperating with the government that pushed the BJP to take the position that it would not support passage of the Bill during the tenure of the UPA government,” he said.