BJP to woo regional parties for GST bill's passage in RS

Top Stories

»	49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
»	'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
»	Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
»	CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
»	Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar

SME Times News Bureau | 30 May, 2016
With the June 11 biennial elections set to change the numbers game in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP said it will "reach out to all regional parties" for support to help approved the pending bills, including the one on Goods and Service Tax.

"We will reach out to all political parties, irrespective of politics, for help to pass the (pending) bills," Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah told media on Sunday when asked if his party will seek the support of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as the latter's numbers are going to increase in the upper house.

Shah, who arrived in Hyderabad from Andaman and Nicobar islands to list out the NDA government's achievements in the two years since it assumed office, addressed the media at a hotel near Shamshabad airport.

As for the speculations over TRS joining the National Democratic Alliance, Shah said: "There is no such application from the TRS."

"The Centre will continue to have good relations with the governments of the Telugu Desam Party and TRS in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively in accordance with the spirit of federalism.

When it was pointed out that the BJP leadership in Andhra Pradesh was not happy with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the BJP chief said: "Tell me the name of the person who is complaining."

On BJP's interest in setting up a Sainik colony in Kashmir, for which Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said there was no land available for the resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits, the BJP chief said: "Mehbooba Mufti is our ally and she also said that the Pandits should be brought back. We are on the same page on the issue."

As for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the alleged government celebrations on its two years in office, he said: "This is not celebration. This is telling people what we have done in the last two years. It has been the BJP practice at every level to give the progress report to the people every year."

Shah later addressed a meeting of BJP workers at the block level on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the last two years.