Govt, Cong in war of words ahead of all-party meet

New Delhi, August 2

Setting the tone for tomorrow’s all-party meet, government and Congress were on Sunday engaged in a verbal clash, with the ruling side alleging “obstructionism” on part of the Opposition which, in turn, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “arrogance” for the Parliament logjam.

With half of the Monsoon session virtually washed out, the government asked the Congress to introspect and said it can have “honourable exit” by having a debate on the row surrounding External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Lalit Modi.

Read: Parliament logjam ‘agonising’, says Somnath

Cong to attend all-party meet if ‘tainted trio’ issue on table

The government has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow to discuss ways to end the stalemate in Parliament.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Congress may be upset with the government for “political reasons” but it must “accept and seriously introspect” that “negativism” and its “obstructionist tendencies” would hurt the country and the economy.

His attack in a facebook post came in the context of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill which is among the reform measures stuck as Parliament is unable to function because of relentless opposition demand for resignation of Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the Lalit Modi row and ouster of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Vyapam scam.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who addressed a press conference at BJP headquarters, termed the Congress as “confused” and claimed that it has put itself in an “untenable position” and “pushed itself against the wall” by demanding resignations of Swaraj, Raje and Chauhan.

Reacting sharply, Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “The blame of Parliament's not functioning lies squarely with the Prime Minister for his arrogance and obduracy.”

Referring to Jaitley’s comments, he said, “the unwarranted, uncharitable and provocative statement by the Finance Minister and BJP, accusing the Congress of disruption makes it abundantly clear that the government is neither serious nor sincere in breaking the deadlock in Parliament.”

He asked Jaitley and BJP “not to give patronising sermons to the Congress but to collectively reflect and apologise for their own conduct while in opposition”.

The former minister said it was “ironical that Arun Jaitley is asking the Congress to reflect whereas as per the government's own claim is that the Parliament has transacted more business in the last one year as compared to the previous 10 years.

“The credit for the Parliament work and clearing important legislative work in the last one year belongs to the responsible and mature opposition whereas the blame for the derailment of the legislative business in the previous 10 long years lies with the BJP.”

Sharma said, “It is the responsibility of the Congress and the opposition to unmask the duplicity of the Prime Minister and the BJP to expose their hypocrisy, doublespeak and double standard on propriety, probity and the accountability.

“The Congress is resolute and duty-bound to ensure accountability for acts of commission, omission and abuse of office and gross impropriety,” he added.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, while ruling out any resignation, maintained that there can be a debate in which the opposition can express its views.

He insisted that neither Swaraj nor Raje had done anything illegal or unethical that they should resign. Raje was not even Chief Minister at that time, he added.

“We want to accommodate the opposition... Let us have a discussion... If they want to express their point of view, we are ready,” Naidu said.

Dubbing Congress as “confused”, Sitharaman said earlier the Congress demanded a debate on the Lalit Modi issue. But when the government agreed to immediately “and to the shock of the Congress”, they demanded that the resignations should come first and only then would they participate in a debate.

The minister also sought to drive a wedge in the opposition unity by claiming that while the Congress is disrupting Parliamentary proceedings other opposition parties are looking forward to a debate on important issues in the House.

At the same time, she said the government has no intent to "divide" the opposition and wants everybody on board.

With regard to the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh in which Chouhan is under attack, she said it cannot be discussed as Parliament rules do not permit debate on state issues.

However, she said “rules can be changed” if members want so as she contended that “there are other members, who want a debate on (Congress-ruled) Kerala solar scam or the (Himachal Pradesh's Congress Chief Minister) Virbhadra Singh corruption issue”, in an apparent bid to nail the Congress.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government has invited all parties for tomorrow's meeting to end the logjam as it wants Parliament to function smoothly. — PTI