New Delhi, Nov. 21 (IANS): The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the government is delaying the winter session of Parliament to avoid questions from the opposition on issues like unemployment, corruption, GST and allegations against Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, which could expose them in the Gujarat polls.
The party leaders also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “Brahma” -- the creator, who alone knows when the session will convene.
The party said it would also communicate with President Ram Nath Kovind on the delay in summoning of the winter session and urge him to take notice of it.
It said the government had turned Parliament into a “joke” and they were “scared of getting exposed” if they convened the winter session of Parliament before the Gujarat assembly election.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “I have spoken to the Parliamentary Affairs Minister (Ananth Kumar) several times and asked him to tell us a date as to when the winter session is going to begin, so that we can make preparations accordingly.
Azad 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, Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and corruption.
Azad also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his election campaigns saying: “No PM 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,” he added.
Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma hit out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his statement that the winter session was delayed in the past too.
Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said: “They do not want discussion in Parliament, so they are giving different excuses for delaying the winter session.
Kharge said whatever was happening under the Narendra 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.
