All-party Meet on Monday to End Parliament logjam

NEW DELHI: With just five working days left in the Monsoon session, the NDA Government, in a last ditch effort to bring normalcy to the House, will again call an all-party meeting on Monday.

On Friday, the Congress did not respond to the government’s peace overtures, when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu invited them for a meeting.The Congress is insisting that it will only attend the meeting, when the government makes a concrete proposal to them. The Opposition party has been asking for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Union Government is not prepared for either.

Venkaiah hit out at the Congress saying, “The Congress party can claim victory over the washout. Nation has lost out badly. It should introspect if it wants to participate in the nation’s development... The Congress is ending up hurting itself politically and hurting the country’s development.”

 Referring to market analyst Moody’s report, Venkaiah said passage of important legislations like GST, land, and real estate Bills were “very crucial to give much desired momentum to economic growth.”

 The minister added that the government has walked an extra mile to accommodate the Opposition’s concerns over several Bills.

Attacking the Congress for referring to Parliament’s disruptions by the BJP when it was in the Opposition, he said the Opposition should not rake up history or it will suffer harm. “What happened in 1992 after Ayodhya (Babri mosque demolition)? What happened in 2002 after Gujarat (riots)?” BJP stalled Parliament only after incontrovertible evidence had emerged in cases like 2G scams,” Venkaiah said.

Cong ‘No’ to Meet

Congress Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said his party will not be attending any all-party meeting called by the government, if they do not agree to the Opposition demands. “We are not interested in mere photo-op, tea and sandwiches. The PM must first tell us what action is being taken on our demands,” Sharma said.

Sharma insisted that the Congress was not interested in a meeting for the sake of meeting and needed to be told what “action” the Prime Minister intended to take on the demands that have led to disruptions in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha since the Monsoon session began on July 21. Squarely blaming the government for the stalemate in Parliament, Sharma said the PM has made no effort to ensure that Parliament functions efficiently.

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