GST a blank cheque to Centre: Omar

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 5: Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today termed the resolution on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), passed by the State Assembly, as a sham and said there was absolutely no clarity on Constitutional safeguards for the State.
“With absolutely no clarity of what ‘Constitutional safeguards’ the BJP-PDP Government in J&K has agreed with the Centre, the sham resolution passes,” Omar wrote on twitter.
Omar, the working president of the National Conference (NC), said the State Government had made up its mind to implement the new tax regime in the State, but was indulging in theatrics.
“As expected the Govt reply was full of hyperbole & devoid of substance. The BJP-PDP Govt had decided to apply GST so why the theatrics,” he asked in another tweet.
He equated the resolution with a blank cheque.
“This is what I’d said yesterday & the resolution, bereft of specifics, is exactly the blank cheque that I’d foreseen,” he added.
Reacting to lynching threat by a Minister to his party MLA Devender Singh Rana in the Assembly, Omar said it was influenced by recent events in various parts of the country.
PDP Minister Imran Raza Ansari during a debate on Goods and Services Tax (GST) yesterday had threatened to the NC MLA saying “I will lynch you here”.
Taking to micro blogging site Twitter, Abdullah said, “This is how the BJP-PDP Govt in J&K is influenced by the recent events in various parts of the country.”
The former Chief Minister, who was though not present in the House when the incident took place, has retweeted  a number of tweets about the threat of Ansari to Rana, who has approached Speaker Kavinder Gupta to direct Director General of Police to file an FIR against the Minister.
He added that in case no directions were issued, he will himself file FIR in a local police station.
On GST, Abdullah said, “How can the House give consent when it hasn’t been taken in to confidence about the true nature of the “modifications?”
He said, “This is like asking for the members to sign a cheque without telling them the amount that will be entered on the cheque before presentation”.