Arun Jaitley refutes Sonia Gandhi's charge of government sabotaging Parliament session

Jaitley also went to say the opposition party had also delayed a session in 2011 and even earlier because the sittings coincided with election campaigns.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley | PTI
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley | PTI

RAJKOT: Countering Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s pointed criticism that the ruling dispensation was running away from the winter session of Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted that the session will be called in due course.

But when will be called—after Gujarat votes or after the results? “Well, the CCPA (the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs) will meet and decide in the next few days. It’ll called soon,’’ Jaitley said.

Asserting there’s no reason to conclude that the session will not be called, Jaitley added: “It has happened several times before—sessions have been rescheduled so as not overlap with the elections.’’

Jaitley cited how the winter sessions of 2008 and 2011 had been postponed by the Congress-led UPA. Rebutting the criticism that the Government was running away from a session because of the slide in the economy Jaitley threatened, “Wait and see, we’ll expose the Congress.’’

At the Congress Working Committee meeting, Sonia Gandhi in her speech accused the Government of delaying the session on rather “filmsy grounds.”

"The Congress has given the most corrupt government in its ten 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.

The Winter session of Parliament usually starts in the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.

"Parliament session will be held for sure and on all subjects, and the Congress will be totally exposed," Jaitley said.

Sources said the government was considering a truncated Winter session of around 10 days starting from the second week of December.

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in New Delhi today, Sonia Gandhi said, "The Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the Winter session of Parliament on flimsy grounds."

(With PTI inputs)

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