Oppn ready to corner govt on GST, land Bills

The Opposition party led by the Congress is watching to go for the jugular in its battle with the Narendra Modi government in Parliament, especially in the Rajya Sabha.

When just three days are left for the Budget session to end, the BJP-led coalition frontloaded a slew of Bills to be legislated upon and the Congress with a clear upper hand in the Rajya Sabha plans to employ parliamentary tools to counter these.

Though the government has mentioned the Constitutional Amendment Goods and Services Tax Bill in the Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage tomorrow, it plans to move the Bill to replace the re-promulgated ordinance on Land Acquisition in the Lok Sabha, where the ruling coalition enjoys brute majority.

Signal is that the Land Acquisition Bill may be referred by the government to a joint committee allowing it to take the sting out of Opposition’s campaign of being anti-farmer and also gain time to consolidate its stand.

Carving out a joint strategy with other political parties, the Congress decided a two-sharped attack: Move a motion to refer the GST Bill to a Select Committee and continue with a vociferous demand for removal of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari over a CAG report on Purthi Group with which the minister was related. The Opposition forced multiple adjournments of the Rajya Sabha over Gadkari.