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Patna,(BiharTimes): In his capacity as the chairman of the empowered committee of the states finance minister on Goods and Services Tax, the deputy chief minister of Bihar and BJP leader, Sushil Kumar Modi, has been seeking the advice of former West Bengal chief minister and his predecessor Asim Dasgupta, for the past two months.
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Incidentally, the present West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra is a member of the committee.
According to reports Dasgupta will also visit Delhi sometime in mid-November to hold a meeting with Modi.
“The present chairperson requested me to advise him on Goods and Services Tax and related matters. I have accepted the offer and that’s why I am going to Delhi for a meeting,” Dasgupta was quoted in The Telegraph recently.
A PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he had served as the chairperson of the committee, set up as a registered society by the NDA-led government in 2000 for over a decade. Although the term of the chairperson was initially set for two years, its members re-elected him unanimously on five consecutive occasions.
Modi said he had requested the former finance minister to advise him. “I have already informed Amit Mitra that I will seek advice from Asim Dasgupta as chairperson of the empowered committee. He is in the know of things.”
“I first asked him for advice two months ago on GST-related issues. We have been in touch since then and I will continue to take his advice,” Modi said. “Our ideological positions have nothing to do with it,” he added.
Dasgupta concurred. “While working as the chairperson of the committee, I always tried to rise above politics and look into the interest of the states,” said Dasgupta, who had to step down from the position of the chairperson after the Left lost in the 2011 Assembly elections.
The former finance minister added that working with Modi would not pose a problem as he has known the BJP leader for years.
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