New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of "single handedly" derailing the ambitious tax reform - GST - a brain child of the BJP-led NDA government, and championed by his Bihar party colleague Sushil Modi.
"The man who is the most powerful proponent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) today is Sushil Modi. But the most powerful opponent of GST is Narendra Modi.
"...In many ways GST owes a lot to Sushil Modi. But the other Modi did not allow GST to happen. (It did not happen because of) single handed opposition of Narendra Modi to GST. So one Modi created GST, the other Modi made sure it did not happen," Ramesh said in an interview to PTI.
Sushil Modi, as the then Bihar Finance Minister and Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, had played a key role in evolving consensus for implementation of GST.
