New Delhi: A day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of sabotaging the Winter Session of Parliament, the government said that they are committed to a full-fledged session.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Tuesday said the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs will soon meet to finalise the dates of the Winter Session.
The Winter Session traditionally convenes from the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.
Government sources the delay was on account of overlapping of the session with the campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly elections and such delays have also happened in the past.
On Monday, Sonia Gandhi attacked PM Modi of sabotaging the session on flimsy grounds and said he lacks the courage to face the House.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refuted the allegations and said Congress, too, had delayed Parliament sessions in the past. He said that dates would be announced soon and sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they did not overlap with elections.
“It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that Parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening,” he told reporters. He also said the session would be held and the Congress “totally exposed”.
Sources had said the BJP was delaying the session on account of the Gujarat election, but may be forced to call a truncated 10-day sitting. The Congress has accused the BJP of being scared of facing tough questions on demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax.
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Sonia said the “Narendra Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the Parliament session on flimsy grounds.”
“It is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections,” she added.
In a scathing attack, she said Modi had the “audacity to have a midnight celebration in Parliament to launch an ill-prepared and flawed” Goods and Services Tax (GST) but lacked the courage to face Parliament.
“Parliament is the forum in which questions should be asked – questions about corruption in high places, conflict of interest of serving ministers and dubious defense deals. In order to avoid the questions and answer ahead of Gujarat elections, the government has taken the extraordinary step of not holding a winter session when they should be held,” Gandhi said on Monday.
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