Congress ministers deliberately excluded from GoM on zero GST: Gehlot

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 1

On behalf of the Congress, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that its members of the GST Council were deliberately kept out of a Group of Ministers (GoM) set up to deliberate on zero duty on Covid-related items.

“Congress has three members in the GST Council. A deliberate attempt has been made to keep the principal Opposition party, the Congress, out of GoM set up by the Centre after the Council meet on May 28,” said Gehlot in a social media post. Keeping out the Congress members is most unfortunate and strikes at the very roots of cooperative federalism, he added.

Gehlot also took up cudgels on behalf of Mamata Banerjee and Stalin and said their Finance Ministers, who like their counterparts from Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan, were kept out of the GoM because they had taken a stand contrary to that of proposed agenda at the GST Council meet on May 28. Kerala too had taken a similar position as the Congress but its Finance Minister has been included in the GoM.

The GoM will submit its report on June 8.

“We request the eight members of the GoM to reflect on the exclusion of the Congress Finance ministers before they proceed with their deliberations. We also urge the members of GoM to take into account views expressed by Rajasthan and other mentioned states, wherein we had asked for a zero tax rate for Covid-related supplies in public interest,’’ he said.

At the GST Council meet, several opposition Finance Ministers had favoured zero duty on Covid related items including vaccines. But Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held on to her earlier position that GST had been suitably reduced and any further reduction may not benefit patients.

Who all are in GoM

—Convenor, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma

—Gujarat Deputy CM Nitinbhai Patel

—Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

—Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho

—Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal

—Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Puiari

—Telangana Finance Minister Harish Rao

—UP Finance Minister Suresh Khanna