TMC in favour of GST roll-out, up to BJP, Cong to sort issues: Derek O'Brien

Party leader says TMC was prevented from raising many issues in Parliament due to disruptions

Opposition Trinamool Congress today said it is in favour of the GST's roll out and that it is now up to the BJP and Congress to sort out the matter and do the needful.

"The TMC view is very clear; we want the GST Bill to be passed. We are committed to GST," party spokesperson Derek O'Brien said outside Parliament.
 

"We had some issues, mainly about 1 per cent compensation," the Rajya Sabha MP said even as he shared that TMC was "happy" that "it has been sorted out and... The government has accepted our amendment".

"So, it (GST Bill) is all set to roll. Now, Congress and BJP have to sit down to see as to how to get this passed and how to get the order in the House."
 

The government's attempts to push through the GST Bill in Rajya Sabha were yesterday stalled by Congress as it caused a disruption in proceedings.

Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, K M Mani, has said it will become "very difficult" to roll out the new indirect tax regime by the April, 2016, target if the GST Bill is not passed in the current session of Parliament, which closes tomorrow.
 

Asked about the monsoon session headed towards being a total wash-out, O'Brien said, "This is a parliamentary democracy. You can go back to 2010, 2011, there were lots of disruptions. BJP has disrupted, Congress is disrupting."

He added that his party wanted to raise many issues in Parliament, but was prevented from doing so due to the disruptions.

"We want to talk about corruption, federalism, so we are having a mock parliament on Teachers Day. We will be discussing many issues on September 5 which were not discussed in the House during the monsoon session," he said.

The mock parliament will be attended attended by many of TMC's Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs.

"It was my leader Mamata Banerjee who made the mock parliament suggestion. There will be many MPs from the party besides schoolchildren, other citizens and the media," O'Brien said.