BJP seethes as Bengal doesn’t take up GST Bill

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The Bengal government did not move for the ratification of the GST Constitution amendment Bill during its one-day special session on Monday citing “time constraints”. However, BJP wasn’t convinced, with its state chief Siddharth Nath Singh accusing CM Mamata Banerjee of political opportunism.
Had the session’s outcome been the opposite, Bengal would have become the 11th state to have ratified the bill.In fact, it has been among the most vocal proponents of the GST and, as chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, Amit Mitra has been at the forefront of the protracted GST negotiations with the Centre.
But on Monday, Mamata said, “This session was only for a day. And it had a packed agenda.” The reason didn’t find purchase with BJP, which said she was playing victim to hide her own lack of performance. “Governance is not in the Bengal CM’s DNA. Her allegations against the Centre are a blatant bid to divert attention from her nonperformance,” Singh said.
He said the Modi government had already given Bengal Rs 2.52 lakh crore over its share of the 13th Finance Commission.
“After supporting the bill in Parliament, the Mamata regime had listed it for discussion on Monday and withdrawing it shows political opportunism. To claim that the Centre is crushing the federal structure is far from the truth,” Singh said.
Singh said Banerjee has realised that she can’t govern and has no other option but to come up with baseless allegations like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.