8 AUGUST 2016

Ø  The newly elected leader of Gujarat BJP, Vijay Rupani, was on Sunday sworn in as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat. The ceremony at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar was attended by BJP top brass including party president Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and patriarch L.K. Advani. Nitin Patel was sworn in as deputy Chief Minister. Besides Mr. Rupani and Mr. Patel, seven Cabinet Ministers and 16 Ministers of State (MoS) were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor O.P. Kohli. In a major decision, Mr. Rupani dropped one of the most powerful Ministers Saurabh Patel, who handled Finance, Energy and Petrochemicals, Tourism and Planning portfolios in the previous administration, led by Anandiben Patel. Mr. Patel has been a member of the State Cabinet since January 2003 when then Chief Minister Narendra Modi appointed him junior minister for Energy and Ports. Subsequently, he emerged as a key figure, liaising with industries and corporates for the biennial Vibrant Gujarat summits. Eight other ministers from the Anandiben administration have been dropped in the new cabinet while Speaker Ganpat Vasava, a tribal leader from south Gujarat, has been made a cabinet minister. Two junior ministers Jayesh Radadia and Dilip Thakor have been elevated to the cabinet rank and nine new faces inducted.

Ø  After Pakistan’s moves over Kashmir and Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Islamabad for the SAARC meet, the government is considering whether to send Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the next SAARC ministerial meeting later this month. Though Pakistani media has reported that Mr. Jaitley was definitely attending the meeting of Finance Ministers on August 24 and 25, Finance Ministry officials told The Hindu “no decision has been taken yet” on the level of delegation to be sent. After the Home/Interior Ministers’ meet, the Finance Ministers will meet to set the economic agenda for the SAARC summit in November which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend.

Ø  The Goods and Services Tax Bill will be taken up again by the Lok Sabha on Monday, with almost all political parties backing the legislation. The Bill, likely to sail through smoothly in the Lower House, will replace a raft of State and local taxes with a single unified value-added tax system to turn the country into the world’s biggest single market. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to intervene during the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last year and now it has to go back to the Lower House for incorporating the amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha. Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said the party would support the Bill and had issued a whip to all its MPs to be present in the House on Monday where it is scheduled to be taken up for passage. Aiming for early implementation of the GST, senior Union Ministers have spoken to the Chief Ministers of the NDA-ruled States to ensure that the Constitution amendment is ratified by the Assemblies at the earliest. The Chief Ministers have assured that, if required, they will call a special session for the passage of the Bill in their Assemblies. The Bill has to be ratified by at least 16 States in 30 days after it is passed by Parliament. After facing fierce opposition over the Bill for almost a year, the government succeeded in bringing all major opposition parties, including the Congress, on board and it was passed in the Rajya Sabha with an overwhelming majority on August 3.