New Delhi: The next few days of the budget session of Parliament are expected to be stormy - with the government and opposition being at loggerheads over several key bills, including the flagship Goods and Services Tax bill.
This is the government's last chance to pass the GST bill this session and sources said the government was ready for a showdown in Rajya Sabha, or the upper house, where it is in minority. Privately, government managers concede there might not be enough time to pass the bill this session - Lok Sabha adjourns on May 8, Rajya Sabha on May 13.
The GST bill, which aims to replace the country's complex array of duties with a simpler tax regime, faces the problem of numbers. As a Constitutional Amendment Bill, it needs support from two-thirds of both Houses.
The good news for the government is that a section of opposition parties - including the Trinamool Congress -- has agreed to support the GST bill.
But it faces tough opposition from the Congress and the Left Front. The AIADMK and the BJD too want the bill to be sent for scrutiny but their opposition is nuanced. Both Congress and the BJP are talking to these two parties to help improve their numbers.
The real test will come in the Rajya Sabha, where, the government will try to prove that Congress is against a bill that is pro-trader and will benefit small and backward states, as the destination tax will bring more revenue to consuming states than the manufacturing ones.
The Congress says it wants a parliamentary panel to examine the bill, which was introduced with certain changes by the Narendra Modi government. The original version introduced by the previous UPA government had lapsed in 2011.
The opposition has also united against the black money bill and the real estate bill and wants Parliamentary panels to examine those as well.
A question mark hangs over the government's flagship land acquisition bill as well. Though the government has indicated its intention to push through the bill in the last two days, it had found no mention in the list of bills to be taken up this week in Lok Sabha.