Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath took a snipe at Opposition parties by stating that key reform bills like the Insurance Bill and the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill had been held up due to ‘obstruction’ by parties who cannot agree with each other.
Nath was addressing businessmen on the topic “Imperatives for double digit growth” at the conference organised by the PHD Chambers of Commerce.
The Parliamentary Affairs Ministers sought to shift the blame of non-passage of ‘key economic bills’ to the Opposition.
Nath said that the problem of governance is self-inflicted, “We think of the political system, earlier there was voting, now there is obstruction.”
The Minister also remarked that one had to deal with parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), who do not agree with each other, likewise the DMK and AIDMK, the TMC and the Left, while the BJP will say three things on every issue.
“One party tells us that they will support the Insurance Bill, but when they come to Parliament, they say nothing has been finalised within the party,” Nath remarked.
Talking about the GST Bill, Nath remarked that, “This (India) is not China, how can you pass bills in a democracy, India has to operate on a broad consensus.”
Nath defended the coal allocation done by the UPA government by stating that coal can be auctioned and sold at any price, but one must remember that it is the consumer who has to shell out more money at the end of the cycle.