Chidambaram backs Jaitley, says delayed GST better than a flawed one

New Delhi: Taking a jibe at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Goods and Services Tax (GST), Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram tweeted that "I agree with Jaitley's statement that a delayed GST is better than a flawed one".

On Saturday, accusing the Congress of delaying the long-pending GST due to collateral reasons, Jaitley had said, "As far as the GST is concerned, I have no doubt in my mind that an attempt to delay it, is entirely for collateral reasons. The conditions demanded by the Congress will make the proposed GST a flawed one. I think a delayed GST is better than a flawed GST."

Slamming Jaitley's accusation, Chidambaram said, "The present GST Bill is flawed one and it need to be corrected before being passed in the Parliament."

"The rate cap can be provided in the GST Bill through skilful drafting. Talk to the Opposition and meet Congress' three weighty objections (on GST). The bill could be passed," he tweeted.

Earlier, Chidambaram had said that the report of the committee chaired by the Chief Economic Adviser could have been used to pave the way for an agreement on the three contentious issues: the 1 per cent additional tax was anyway dead, no state was totally opposed to a dispute resolution mechanism, and a rate cap could have been provided through skilful drafting.