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Centre reaches out to Opposition
With Kashmir in turmoil and the passage of GST Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which begins in a week, the NDA government has reached out to the Opposition in its bid to hammer out the twin problems.
New Delhi: With Kashmir in turmoil and the passage of GST Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which begins in a week, the NDA government has reached out to the Opposition in its bid to hammer out the twin problems.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to Opposition leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and discussed the prevailing situation in Jammu & Kashmir, where the curfew-like curbs are in force following the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on Friday.
During the telephonic conversation with Gandhi and National Conference leader Omar, the Home Minister discussed with them efforts to bring back peace and normalcy in Kashmir Valley.
The Home Minister’s discussions with Gandhi and Omar, who ruled Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and 2015, are believed to be an attempt by the Central government to take Opposition leaders into confidence.
Meanwhile, Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar are set to meet Congress leaders within days with a set of fresh proposals aimed at breaking the political deadlock over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. This follows Kumar reaching out to Congress leaders, expressing the desire for resuming the negotiations, sources said.
In a statement, Gandhi said there can be no compromise on matters relating to national security even as she voiced anguish over the loss of lives in the clashes. Omar had said his party was ready to contribute towards maintaining peace in Kashmir but Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should take the lead in showing the way.
Singh is also speaking to other Opposition leaders on the Kashmir situation, sources said. The Home Minister has already spoken at least twice to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and assured her all Central assistance to tackle the violent protests, which so far claimed 32 lives.
Meanwhile, the Home Minister reviewed the Kashmir situation for the second time in as many days and instructed officials to do the needful to bring back normalcy in the state. On the GST front, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar held telephonic talks with leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy leader of Congress in the House Anand Sharma and formal talks are likely to take place shortly.
When contacted, Sharma made a strong pitch for evolving a "genuine" common market through the key tax reform, insisting that the GST should be both "meaningful and substantive". The government, he said, needs to "ring fence" the GST rate so as not to burden the common man.
The GST, which is being touted as the most significant reform in indirect tax since independence, is being held up in the Rajya Sabha because of stiff Opposition by the Congress, which among other things is demanding a Constitutional cap on the GST rate.
