Chidambaram again bats for 18% GST rate in bill

New Delhi: After much debate and negotiations, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill is all set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The government on Tuesday circulated copies of the draft Constitution Amendment Bill to bring Goods and Services Tax (GST) among MPs. Even top Congress leaders got into a huddle to chalk out the party's strategy ahead of its consideration and passage in the Upper house of the parliament. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi met Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, among others, in Parliament House and discussed various points regarding the key tax reform legislation. According to top government sources, a fresh round of talks will be held today with the main opposition leaders in Congress. Even former cricketer and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendular spoke in the favour of the bill saying, “Making GST a reality is just a matter of time. And, I am looking forward to GST delivering the benefits”. Finance Minister Jaitley on Tuesday held consultations with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. He had also met CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, besides some other leaders. Later, along with Anant Kumar, he met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. The key Congress demand for rephrasing of the language for setting up of dispute resolution mechanism in the GST Council has also been agreed to by the government.