The Core Group of BJP today met in Jammu to finalise the party’s strategy on implementation of the Goods and…
(PHOTO: Getty Images)
The Core Group of BJP today met in Jammu to finalise the party’s strategy on implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Jammu and Kashmir and asked all its legislators to attend the special session of the two houses of legislature that is beginning on July 4.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and minister of state in PMO, Jitendera Singh, were among those who participated in the meeting.
Jitendera Singh denied differences between the BJP and PDP on the issue of implementation of GST in the state.
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The government has so far failed to create consensus on the issue among all the political parties.
A senior PDP MP Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, who headed the two meetings of the all parties consultative committee to hammer out consensus on the issue, today said that the J&K government should present the GST Bill with some riders to prevent erosion of special status of J&K. Provision should be made to revert to the old system if the stakeholders do not find the GST worthwhile.
Meanwhile, the National Conference (NC) on Sunday warned the Jammu and Kashmir government of severe consequences if it implemented the GST in its present form, saying the party would not accept the new tax regime till adequate safeguards were put in place.
"Our position is that till we get the constitutional, administrative and economic safeguards, NC will not accept the GST. The government should not implement GST in its present form. But if they still do it, they will have to face the consequences," senior NC leader Abdul Rahim Rather said in Srinagar.
Rather, who was addressing media persons, said the party would safeguard the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as guaranteed under Article 370 of the Constitution.
Hitting out at Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu's statement that the state assembly was likely to pass the GST bill by 6 July, Rather asked if the government had made up its mind, what is the fun of calling a special session of the legislature.
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