Modi invites Sonia and Manmohan for Tea!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to his official residence at Race Course Road to have a tea with him on Friday evening at 7 pm and they are said to be accepted his invitation. Their tea-meeting is very significant as Prime Minister Modi wants to seek their party’s support for passing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and 36 other bills during the current winter sessions of parliament.

Congress party has stalled this GST bill during previous sessions also, demanding for some changes in the bill. It is insisting the Modi government to mention the clause of revenue-neutral rate not higher than 18 per cent in the bill. It is also opposing the proposal of levying additional one per cent of tax by the states on supply of goods over and above the GST rate. Hence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met almost all the senior Congress party leaders for clarifying their doubts in this regard and seeks their party support of passing this bill.

However, Modi government appears to be realized that it has to approach Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and not her party leaders for this purpose. So, Prime Minister Modi has invited them both for a tea today evening at his residence. He is hoping to convince them to extend their party support to this bill. Unless, this bill is passed in the current sessions, government can’t bring its new indirect taxation system from April 1, 2016. Hence, the tea-meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh is very significant.