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NEW DELHI: The BJP and Congress are at war. The Goods and Service Tax Bill is likely to be the casualty of the face off that has the government and the principal Opposition party in Parliament firing at each other from the hip on an almost daily basis during the winter session of Parliament.
The Congress has de-linked the National Herald case from its all out opposition to the BJP in a thought out strategy finalised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But as insiders point out, it is vice president Rahul Gandhi who is leading the charge and that the directions to the party leaders and workers are coming directly from him.
Despite pressure from sections of the Congress party to move ahead with the GST Bill, sources said that both the top leaders are in no mood to relent. Rahul Gandhi has set out three conditions and made it apparent that if the government meets these, the Congress will support the Bill through Parliament. He said that his party believed in the Bill but wanted the government to agree to cap GST rate at 18%, an independent dispute-resolution set-up within the GST council and to scrap 1% inter-state tax.
"The government has to accept that Congress sits in Parliament, has a view and 20% vote," he said. At the time of writing this Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who has been attacking the Congress and its leadership through Facebook posts, was sitting in a meeting with Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma on the Bill. Rahul Gandhi, sources said, is adamant about not conceding ground on these issues even as the government is under pressure from the corporate lobby to pass the Bill as soon as possible.
In a two pronged strategy, the Congress duo have for the first time perhaps moving the party in tandem with the state governments they hold. For instance Rahul Gandhi made a statement in Delhi about the RSS blocking him from entering a temple in Assam during his recent visit, even as Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi joined in from the state reaffirming the same. Rahul Gandhi almost shouted while speaking to reporters on the issue in Delhi, “who are they to stop me from going to a temple” while Gogoi criticised the BJP/RSS in Assam for the same.
In Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was initially invited for a private function to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The invitaton according to the Congress was withdrawn at the instance of the Prime Ministers office. Chandy sent out a series of tweets on this, while the Congress party took it up in Parliament to a point where Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy had to make a statement saying that the PMO had nothing to do with this. The Congress did not accept the denial maintaining that this was an insult to Kerala.
Sources said that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were clear about not compromising with the government on any issue. More so as PM Modi, joined by senior Ministers like Venkiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and BJP party spokespersons have been singling out the Congress for attack. The decision has been taken to fight back at all levels, with Rahul Gandhi directly in charge now of mobilising the party to join issue with PM Modi and the BJP.
The GST Bill will continue to hang fire, almost definitely for this winter session that ends on December 23. Interestingly the message through the Congress party is that any suggestions on this strategy should be made to Rahul Gandhi as he is taking the decisions.
The Assam elections are poised to see a fight between the Congress and the BJP with both parties in the process of stitching up alliances with the local political groupings. The Congress is definitely on a weak wicket because of a strong anti-incumbency factor after 15 years in office, but it is early days yet. The elections are to be held by April next year.
