Government hopeful on GST Bill as Winter Session begins

A united opposition is set to corner the government over the issue of intolerance in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on Thursday but the prospects of a thaw on the crucial GST bill brightened with both sides expressing preparedness for discussing it.

Opposition is likely to press for a resolution to condemn the alleged rise in intolerance, a demand unlikely to be conceded by the government which instead prefers a debate, seeking to project incidents like Dadri lynching as law and order issues pertaining to states.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said though the government does not agree with the perception of rising intolerance, "we are willing to go along with Opposition in this regard for a discussion in an appropriate manner, if you desire."

The government "does not support or condone" such incidents and is aware of the Opposition's concerns on "unfortunate incidens like Dadri and killing of M M Kalburgi", he said.

However, on the GST bill, both sides talked about the need for discussions to thrash out issues on some of the contentious clauses.

Setting the tone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the Opposition for cooperation as he made a strong pitch for early passage of the GST bill at the all party-meet convened by Naidu, saying it will be in the interest of the nation.

He told the Opposition leaders that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will hold discussions with them on their concerns.

Congress, on the other side, said it was open for discussions on GST bill on which it has "very genuine concerns".

"We are open for discussions. Let us see how far they go ahead," Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.