Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the next three to four days, as he sought to play down reports of differences between the BJP and the PDP, the ruling coalition partners in the state.
He said there were “hiccups” raised by opposition parties for “political consideration” and that the non-implementation of GST would lead to losses for the local industry and traders.
J&K is the only state which has not taken a call yet on the implementation of the new tax regime, which came into force in the country from midnight on Saturday.
The Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) replied in the negative when asked whether the BJP had “surrendered” before the PDP as far as the GST was concerned, amid reports of differences between them.
All of us should stay assured that the GST will soon be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. There is no surrender. I have told you that the GST will be implemented very soon. It will be implemented in the next three to four days.Union Minister Jitendra Singh
He said not only the BJP or the PDP but the entire nation was on the same page vis-a-vis the implementation of the GST, the biggest tax reform in India since Independence.
“It is not a question of the BJP, the PDP or the Congress. 125 crore people of this country are dictating us to be on the same page and there cannot be anything otherwise,” he said.
Both the coalition partners are on the same page. There is no difference of opinion on the GST. There were hiccups raised by opposition parties for political consideration, but they have also realised that they cannot carry it forward. Now they are exposed.Jitendra Singh
Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur, said the traders would face losses everyday on account of non-implementation of the GST in J&K.
Special GST Assembly Session From 4 July, All BJP Legislators to Attend
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the core group of the BJP, its state unit chief Sat Sharma said all party legislators will take part in the four-day special Assembly session starting from 4 July.
The meeting of the core group was held under the chairmanship of the BJP's national general secretary, Ram Madhav.
“The session is being specially held for GST. All (legislators) have been asked to remain present there. There will be discussion on GST, as the session is being exclusively held for it,” Sharma said.
“I feel before 8 July, the announcement will be made for implementation of GST in J&K. We have a clear stand on the GST,” he said.
He said the GST roll-out got delayed in J&K due to the opposition “repeatedly creating hurdles” for it.
On 30 June, J&K Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu had said the state was likely to clear GST by 6 July while he was in Delhi to attend the midnight launch of tax regime in the central hall of Parliament.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had last week written to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, saying the failure of the state to implement the GST would lead to the “adverse impact” of price rise and put the local industry at a disadvantage.
In view of differences among the political parties, the state government had set up an all-party consultative group to find common ground.
The consultative group held its second meeting on 29 June after which the government claimed that the parties were in agreement on extension of the new tax regime but with safeguards to protect the fiscal autonomy of the state.
(This article has been edited for length)
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