Bhubaneswar, Jan. 8: Union minister of state for finance Jayanta Sinha today hinted that the Centre was confident that the BJD would support the GST bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Sinha reached out to the BJD a day after parliamentary affairs minister and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the crucial bill.

The bill, he said, would bring a phenomenal change to the Indian economy.

Addressing a news conference here, Sinha said: "The way the Rajya Sabha was stalled on petty issues and the GST bill was not allowed to be passed has only compounded the problem. It was Congress party's resistance that stalled the GST bill. But, the nation needs GST."

Sinha said: "We are reaching out to the Opposition to solicit their co-operation for passing the GST bill. The BJD's leader in Lok Sabha, Bhartruhari Mahatab, has already made it clear that the party will support the GST bill." He also appreciated the growth of the state's economy and hinted that Odisha's economy was moving in the right direction.

After meeting Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and finance minister Pradip Amat at the state secretariat, the Union minister said the state's fiscal deficit was under control. "During the meeting, we discussed the issue of the Jandhan Yojana and Mudra Bank scheme. We also discussed the issue of financing the medical education and medical infrastructure," he said.

Naveen and Sinha also discussed the issue of financing power distribution companies and giving funds to them for their revival.

Asked about Odisha's complaint about getting less funds from the 14th Finance Commission, he said: "The Finance Commission is a constitutional body. Earlier, the states used to get less funds. Now under the devolution proposal, the states will receive more funds. The state can utilise the funds according to its plan. We cannot sit in Delhi and chalked out the plan," he said.

For the past few months, Odisha has been complaining that the Centre has discontinued eight central-sponsored schemes and changed the pattern of funding in 32 schemes.

Earlier, Amat had said: "The decrease in funds is a cause of grave concern. There will be a net loss of Rs 6,127 crore because of the drying up of funds. The flow of central assistance got reduced after eight central schemes had been discontinued. The Centre has also decided to restructure 33 centrally-sponsored schemes by changing the sharing pattern," said the minister.

However, the minister also assured the Odisha government that it would consider the state's demand for giving more money to backward districts. Sinha also met top officials of several banks and reviewed the progress and implementation of various schemes such as the yojana initiated by the NDA government at the Centre.