Modi government all for reform and economic growth, hits out at Congress for obstructing GST Bill

Key ministers of the Narendra Modi government said they are all for reforms and economic growth, and that they would keep pursuing it in the Modi tenure.

Meanwhile, Finance minister Arun Jaitley, during the panel discussion on the occasion of the ET Awards, came down heavily on the Congress party, particularly the Gandhi family, for obstructing the passage of the GST Bill. He said the upper house of Parliament had become the "last bastion of obstructionism" and it seems to him that the party's "mid-command" might be under pressure from the high command to block.

WHO SAID WHAT

Suresh Prabhu said:"The Opposition has to oppose for its own purpose, but then they should also propose. GST was debated for a very long time...but Opposition must also give workable ideas."

Speaking on the benefits of bullet train projects, Prabhu said it would have the same kind of effect that Suzuki's investment in India had - helped in not only making cars, but in the growth of many other units for components and related sectors.

"Even if the Congress keeps obstructing, there would be other ways to deal with the situation, power, coal and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal said. "We may have to look at alternative mechanisms to achieve the same goal...I think the finance minister must be having a trick or two up his sleeve which he cannot reveal at the Awards function," Goyal said in the discussion that also included telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and railway minister Suresh Prabhu.

Jaitley said the government would keep a balance between fiscal discipline and the need to step up expenditure on infrastructure and social sectors. He said infrastructure spending was delivering results in areas like the rural sector and national highways.