At an all-party meeting here, leaders of several opposition parties spoke of developments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to signal their intent to train guns on the government, with Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad saying the states no longer trusted the Centre.
Modi, who joined the meet later, thanked all parties for "speaking in one voice" on the developments in Kashmir and sought their support in the passage of the GST bill, saying it was of "national importance" and urging them to keep national interests above everything else, sources said.
He said the government will talk to all parties to evolve a consensus on the GST.
"Our legislative business, including GST, is a priority. We want to see to that we pass the GST bill with consensus. We are going to take every party on board," he said.
Kumar downplayed the attacks of Congress, the Left and some other parties on the government over the Arunachal issue, saying different issues can be debated.
"We have assured all parties that there will be open- mindedness and we are ready to discuss all issues," he said.
Though he did not refer to GST directly, he said the Congress will offer support to bills on merit.
Addressing the meeting, Modi said important bills,
including the GST, are to be taken up during the session and expressed the hope that there would be meaningful discussions and outcomes, officials said.
"Referring to introduction of GST, the Prime Minister noted that the issue was not about which government would get the credit for this, but what is important is the passage of the bill," they said.
Growing incidents of terror attacks in different parts of the world and their implications for the country, foreign policy, floods in states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand were listed by him among the issues to be discussed in Parliament, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.
"The meeting was very fruitful. All the parties desired smooth functioning of Parliament and assured of their cooperation. Congress too assured support to legislative proposals based on merits," he said.
Asked about some chief ministers like Nitish Kumar raising the issue of role of governors at the Inter-State Council meeting here yesterday, he said these were not discussed.
"We can give a response only after we receive a written draft from the government," he said as he rejected the contention that the Congress was blocking the bill, saying GST was "a baby given birth" by his party.
He also referred to the Kairana issue, suggesting that it was aimed at stoking communal tension and said his party will take it up during the session.
He and Naresh Agrawal of Samajwadi Party demanded an all- party meeting over the GST bill with the SP leader saying his party may oppose the bill if it is not consulted.
Taking a dig at Modi over his call for cooperation
between the Centre and states at the Inter-State Council meeting yesterday, Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the government of using its "power" to engineer "defections" to topple Congress governments in two states and how the Supreme Court orders nullified them.
He also spoke about Modi's remarks that politics should be delinked from terror and said they were often linked and politics was often the root of terrorism.
Speaking about the "abuse" of Governor's post, he also referred to UP Governor Ram Naik's reported justification of arms training given to Bajrang Dal cadres.
"If government starts giving training to such organisations, then you can understand ... Where does terrorism begin from," Azad said.
Several opposition leaders, including Azad and Yechury, highlighted the situation in Kashmir and how communication has been shut there and many lives lost in police action.
Yechury wondered if India is being drawn into the "global web of terror attacks" by getting close to the US.