The Congress on Monday refuted contentions of the ruling NDA that the opposition was trying to "obstruct" key bills in parliament."I reject the argument that we are obstructing," senior Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram said at a press conference here."We are not obstructing. Did we obstruct the insurance bill? They did it for five (parliament) sessions. I was virtually imploring them to pass it. Did we obstruct the black money bill?" he asked.Chidambaram said the government will not achieve double-digit growth by just accusing the opposition. "What are we obstructing? We asked for the Goods and Services Tax bill to be referred to a standing committee.""They introduced eight amendments in the bill and members of parliament felt that it was an important constitutional amendment and deserves to go to a standing committee," he said.
The former finance minister said that all bills should go to a standing committee. "Elected members believed that a constitutional amendment bill, which would change fundamentally the taxation structure of the country, should go to a committee".Asked on the party's position on the GST bill, he said: "Our members in the standing committee will articulate the party's position. It is the standing committee which has to come up with the recommendations."
Chidambaram said that though overall retail inflation has come down, the prices of certain food items have gone up."There has been a rise in the prices of three dals, three or four key vegetables and milk, and this has hurt the average family. All that has been documented. It is not correct to say there has not been price rise," he added.The senior Congress leader said that contrary to claims by the NDA government, inflation began to decline in November 2013 itself."Decline in inflation took place due to policies followed by both the UPA and the NDA," Chidambaram said.