Approaches party brass for resolving issue before July 1
The state BJP has entrusted Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh with the task of getting the GST issue resolved before July 1 following criticism from different quarters over the party’s failure to take a tough stand on extending the goods and services tax to the state.
Nirmal Singh, who belongs to the BJP, has been asked by the party to convince the coalition partner PDP to ignore the threats of separatists and other Kashmir-centric parties over the new tax structure and save the state from chaos.
The state unit of the BJP has also sought help from the party leadership to counter the anti-GST campaign launched by some Valley-centric groups.
“If the GST is not extended to J&K on July 1, there will be complete financial chaos in the state. The party has conveyed its concern to the Deputy Chief Minister, who is our representative in the coalition,” state BJP president Sat Sharma said, adding that Nirmal has been asked to take up matter with the PDP as early as possible.
Sharma said the Deputy Chief Minister had been told to convey to the PDP that “politicising a purely economic issue would prove disastrous for the masses in J&K”. The BJP had cautioned Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu that any delay in extending the GST to the state would have a devastating effect on the pricing of goods imported and exported from J&K.
Sources said the party had also sought the intervention of the party top brass as the issue was unlikely to be resolved at the state level before July 1. “Obviously, we will seek the central leadership’s intervention in the issue,” the BJP state president confirmed. Although the new tax system cannot be implemented directly in J&K, the government has the power to extend the GST to the state through a simple ordinance with the Cabinet’s nod.
