Finance minister Arun Jaitley (left) has questioned Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar's rationale that liquor should be included in the goods and services tax (GST) bill, which the party has blocked in the Rajya Sabha, to make it "comprehensive".

Jaitley referred to a blog, "How Congress will block GST" Aiyar recently posted on the website of a news channel. In that, Aiyar, a Rajya Sabha MP, argued that "alcohol meant for human consumption was taxed very high" by state governments, as a result of which people turned to "hooch".

Jaitley quoted Aiyar as saying the consumption of "hooch" led to revenue losses, malpractices and deaths. "He (Aiyar), therefore, believes that liquor should be brought within the GST instead of leaving it to the purview of the states so that it can be taxed at the constitutional limit of 18 per cent that the Congress party now proposes."

The minister remarked that going by Aiyar's blog, the Congress's position was to make alcohol cheaper so people would not buy "hooch". "Is this the Congress's concept of a comprehensive GST, that alcohol becomes cheaper? Is this among the basis for the Congress's opposition to the GST (bill)?" Jaitley asked, demanding a clarification from the Opposition party.

In his blog, Aiyar had argued that including liquor and tobacco in the bill is an imperative for rendering the GST "comprehensive" and that "Jaitley's bill fails on that score".