The main opposition party accused the government of trying to avoid being exposed over embarrassing issues ahead of Gujarat elections.
However, the government rejected the charges and said a decision will be taken on convening the session in a day or two.
The day started with the Congress fielding a battery of its parliamentary leaders to needle the government on the issue. Leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Brahma, who only knew everything while others were in the dark.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kharge, along with other leaders, alleged that the government was delaying the winter session to avoid questions from the opposition on issues like unemployment, corruption, Goods and Services Tax and allegations against BJP chief Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, which could expose them in the Gujarat polls.
They said their party would convey to President Ram Nath Kovind its concerns over the delay.
Azad said: I have spoken to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar several times and asked him to tell us a date when the winter session is going to begin. But he had no clue since it was not confirmed by the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office).
He also said the reasons why the government was not summoning the winter session was because they do not want to face the questions of unemployment, GST implementation and corruption.
“We wanted to ask the government about their formula of giving jobs and earning revenue where one can earn Rs80 crore from Rs15 lakh. If the BJP president has this formula for his company, then he should share it with the people of the country as well. That is the Gujarat model,” said Azad referring to allegations against Jay Shah.
Azad attacked Modi for his election campaigns saying no prime minister in the past 70 years has campaigned from panchayat elections to parliament polls. “He uses defence aircraft and helicopters for his visits. What is the cost of these visits? This is also a scam which will run into thousands of crores.”
The central government has become an election machinery and the cabinet ministers are busy campaigning for elections all the time, Azad added.
Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma hit out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his statement that the winter session had been delayed in the past too.
“His statement was a knee-jerk response. He should have checked the facts. He is factually wrong and we reject what he said that in 2011 there was a similar situation.”
Kharge said: They do not want discussion in parliament, so they are giving different excuses for delaying the winter session.
“If they convene parliament session and hold discussion, then they will be exposed. So they are trying to convene the session after the Gujarat polls,” said Kharge. He said whatever was happening under the Modi government was an attack on democracy. He added that this year there had been only 38 sittings of the Lok Sabha – the lowest in the past 70 years.
“Even ministers of this government and the speaker do not know when the session will be convened. Only one person knows about it – who is ‘Brahma’... You cannot be whimsical in running a democracy,” he said.
Justifying the delay in the winter session, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “It has been the established tradition of Indian politics to accommodate the dates between election campaign and session.”
“Congress’ love for parliament is a pleasant surprise. We all know about Rahul Gandhi’s presence in parliament,” he said.
On allegations by Azad that Modi uses Defence Ministry planes and helicopters for election campaigning, he said: “If Indira Gandhi uses defence planes or helicopters for election purposes, it’s okay. Former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh can use defence planes for five years and 10 years respectively but they have problems when Narendra Modi is using defence planes and helicopters for election purposes.”
Countering Kharge on his description of Modi as Brahma, Prasad said: “Yes, Modi is the creator of New India.”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the dates for the session would be decided soon.
