The Congress party on Thursday said that it won't attend the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) schedu... Read More

NEW DELHI: The opposition Congress party on Thursday said that it won't attend the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) scheduled for midnight on June 30 in a special Parliament session.

"Congress party has decided to boycott the Parliament's mid-night session to rollout GST on June 30," Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

He gave two reasons for the boycott.

"Midnight session of parliament was held only thrice starting with August 15, 1947. In 1972, session was held to mark silver jubilee and the third time it was for golden jubilee of our Independence," Azad said, adding, "May be 1947 has no relevance for BJP because they played no role in freedom struggle."

The Congress joins the Trinamool Congress (TMC) which announced Wednesday it would boycott the special session of Parliament.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Modi government was "in an unnecessary hurry" to implement the GST which she said requires "at least another six months" so all rules and procedures are notified.

"We are saying the economy is not yet ready to face the GST from the 1st of July, 2017."

The Congress leader also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers are silent on what is happening under their rule.

"...farmers, minorities and Dalits are being killed. The BJP chief ministers and the centre is taking no action on these issues,"Azad alleged.

He further said the centre government is paying no attention to trouble in Kashmir and on falling GDP.



In Video: Congress decides it will not attend GST launch