Rajnath unaware of Naga Accord: Rahul
Source: The Sangai Express
Mumbai, January 17 2016:
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi on Friday criticised
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
saying that it is only Modi and a
close coterie in government
who are in the know about the
decisions being taken.
In a media interaction on
Friday, Gandhi cited the Naga
Peace Accord which the Centre
had signed with the NSCN
(I-M) and said even Union
home minister Rajnath Singh
was kept in the dark about the
accord being entered into, reports
The Economic Times.
"The Congress president
called me and told me that the
PM has informed about signing
the Naga peace accord.
She wanted me to check with
the chief ministers of the
north eastern states about the
Naga Accord.
"The Manipur, Nagaland,
Assam chief ministers all of
whom told me that they had
no idea about the accord being
signed.
When we spoke
to home minister Rajnath
Singh, even he did not have
any idea about the accord
being signed," said Gandhi.
"Who is the interlocutor to
sign anything?" he added.
On the Goods and Services
Taxes (GST) Rahul
Gandhi said in just "15 minutes"
the GST Bill will be
passed in Parliament with the
support of Congress once the
Modi government accepts the
conditions set by his party.
"A compromise with the
government is possible on
GST and it is by sitting
across the table, but the government
is not willing to do
so," he said.
The day the
conditions are accepted, we
will pass the GST (in Parliament).
It will take just 15
minutes," he said.
"We don't want a GST
where there's no cap on
taxes.
We want a limitation
on the maximum tax that can
be charged.
Also, dispute
resolution must be fair and
neutral.
I don't think it's
wrong of us to say that,"
Rahul said while explaining
the conditions put by Congress
to back GST.
"It was Congress which
brought in the GST legislation.
The BJP then stopped
GST in Parliament for seven
years.
Jaitley then did not allow
it to pass.
Narendra
Modi, as CM of Gujarat, did
not allow GST to pass,"he
said.
"Jaitley doesn't have to
tell me GST is good.
I know
it's good," he said.
The constitutional amendment
bill to usher in the single
tax regime in the country has
been stuck in the Rajya Sabha
where the BJP is in a minority.
The government wants to
roll out GST from April 1
and hopes that a consensus
will emerge for its passage in
the budget session of Parliament
that will begin in the
second half of February.
Rahul also attacked the
Centre's ambitious Start-Up
mission, saying there is a
contradiction in pushing for
start-ups and being "intolerant".
He said the RSS has a
very "rigid vision" for India
and that start ups require free
movement of ideas.