Ready to talk to anyone in Cong for GST Bill passage: Jaitley

With the landmark GST Bill stuck due to opposition from the Congress, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he is willing to reach out to Rahul Gandhi to get the biggest reform agenda in two decades passed by Parliament. “We are willing to speak to any of their leaders,” Jaitley was quoted as saying by a news channel. Asked if that includes Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said: “Certainly. Why not?”

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will subsume more than a dozen state levies to create a single market, is to be implemented from April 1, 2016. But the deadline may be missed if Parliament does not pass the Constitution Amendment Bill in the upcoming Winter session.

“I will try and persuade them to have it cleared now, as soon as possible, because it is going to be one of the most important reforms in India,” he said. 

Once the Bill is passed, more than half of the states have to ratify it before Parliament passes another enabling bill to implement GST.