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Congress, Centre trade barbs over Parliament adjournment
The latest exchange between the two sides comes a day after the monsoon session of Parliament, which was marred by prolonged protests and frequent disruptions, ended four days ahead of schedule.
A day after a tumultuous monsoon session of Parliament ended ahead of schedule, a war of words erupted between the central government and the Congress party over the disruptions. The Congress alleged that the government does not have the “appetite to run proceedings”, and leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded by saying that the Opposition follows the agenda of “disruption and boycott”.
The latest exchange between the two sides comes a day after the monsoon session of Parliament, which was marred by prolonged protests and frequent disruptions, ended four days ahead of schedule.
In a series of tweets, Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said that the decision to adjourn Parliament’s monsoon session “was taken on the request of MPs including those from Opposition. Opposition’s propaganda is discussion but agenda is disruption and boycott.”
“They could have raised any issue through calling attention, Rule 377, zero hour and question hour, etc. But they walked away during discussions on price rise which they were demanding since the beginning,” Joshi tweeted on Tuesday. “Even today, they are leaving no stone unturned by not allowing Parliament, the temple of democracy, to debate on national issues. More than 50% of the time in the recently concluded session was sacrificed through disruptions,” he added.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the ruling side of disrupting Parliament. Terming the monsoon session as “extremely disappointing”, Ramesh said, “There was no enthusiasm or appetite on part of the government to get bills passed.”
“It was also extraordinary that one-and-a-half days of proceedings were disrupted by treasury benches which kept insisting on an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi for remarks made by the leader of the party in Lok Sabha who had already apologised for his statement both verbally as well as in writing,” he said.
He was referring to the controversy sparked over June 28 remarks on President Droupadi Murmu by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, over which BJP members disrupted House proceedings demanding an apology for the “sexist insult”.
In response to the Congress’s claims that it did not allow the controversial electricity bill to pass, Joshi said, “It is wrongly accused that they did not allow the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to be passed. It was listed for introduction only. Keeping the importance of this bill in mind, it is being sent to the standing committee for examination and report... Such rumour-mongering incidents expose the Opposition’s double face in front of the public.”
