Of elbow grease & exit polls

The noise of the Assembly elections will hit fever pitch in the following days, as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry prepare to elect their representatives to the Legislative Assembly. Leaders of all political parties are likely to make a beeline to the south, where campaigning will cease on Friday evening. The high point of the week will be the exit polls conducted by most media houses that will come out on the evening of May 16 - the day the election concludes.

Since most of the top leaders - Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - have already completed their tour of the states, it will fall on local leaders to provide the elbow grease and gear up for the final campaign push.

GST caught in Agusta crosshairs
This week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet the Congress brass for a second time to discuss if the rate of taxation should be part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill or not?

Last week, when in Frankfurt for a meeting of the Asian Development Bank, the minister had said: "I had a round of discussion with the Congress on GST. I think it should take a responsible position in the larger interest of the national economy and cooperate in its passage, particularly when every other political party is in favour, including its own allies."

He had said the only sticking point between the government and the Congress now is whether or not the 18 per cent GST rate should be put in the Constitution Amendment Bill.

It is not clear whether the Congress sees it the same way. After all the bitterness in Parliament over the Agusta helicopters debate, how will the Congress respond to Jaitley's call for talks? In any case, there is no time left in the Budget session to discuss GST; now it will be deferred to the monsoon session.