Centre sabotaging winter session on flimsy grounds: Sonia
November 20, 2017
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday launched an all out attack on the government, accusing it of sabotaging the winter session of Parliament on flimsy grounds.
Addressing the meeting of the Congress Working Committee, she also accused the government of being ‘ill prepared’ to implement the goods and services tax, which she described as a ‘flawed’ tax regime.
The Congress president also hit out at the government over demonetisation, saying the move left millions of people ‘suffering’.
The Modi-government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India’ Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the winter session of Parliament on flimsy grounds,” she told the party’s highest decision-making body.
The winter session of Parliament traditionally convenes from the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.
According to sources, the government is considering a truncated winter session of around 10 days starting from the second week of December.
The Congress president also charged the government with ‘forcefully’ trying to change history of modern India by ‘erasing contributions’ made by former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, meanwhile, said Parliament sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they did not overlap with elections, and claimed the Congress had done so too in the past.
On Sonia’s allegation, Jaitley said the opposition party had also delayed a session in 2011 and even earlier because the sittings coincided with election campaigns.
“It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that Parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening,” he told reporters in Rajkot.
He also said the session would be held and the Congress ‘totally exposed’.
“The Congress has given the most corrupt government in its 10 years of rule, while Narendra Modi has given the most honest government. By forcibly saying that a truth is a lie does not make it a lie,” Jaitley said.
He said the Congress had itself rescheduled Parliament sessions several times.
“(The) timing is decided such that they do not overlap with election campaigns. (Congress) did so in 2011, and even before that,” the senior BJP leader said.(Agencies)
