Naidu hopeful of passing bills on realty regulator, GST in Budget Session

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said he is confident that bills pertaining to formation of a realty regulator and the much-awaited indirect taxation reform GST will be passed in the upcoming Budget session, and hoped that Congress will cooperate in ensuring the functioning of Parliament.

"The major issue is disruption and obstruction of Parliament. They (Congress) didn't allow two sessions. I hope Congress, which is supposed to have lot of maturity and experience because they've ruled the country for so many years, understands and cooperates," Naidu told reporters here.

Dismissing Congress's contention that nobody reached out to them, he reminded that the GST Bill was introduced first by the Congress in 2008.

"I'm definitely confident and optimistic. We've spent and wasted enough time on it. Now the time has come for us to come together. It is unfortunate that Congress is saying that we've not reached out to them," Naidu said, adding that both Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and he himself had spoken to Congress leaders, including the Gandhis.

Commenting on the Congress' current stance of stalling Parliament and then putting forth certain changes in the bill, Naidu said, "They're raising certain issues which they did not raise when they brought the Bill in 2008. We're trying to address them, but certain things are impossible."