Centre blocking discussion in Parliament: Congress

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Centre of undermining the democratic process in Parliament and preventing proper discussions.

Addressing reporters here, the MP said the Union Government’s approach is to avoid discussions by any means possible. She alleged that the government blocked discussions in Parliament. “Their policy is to avoid discussion in whatever way — whether it is by raking up something what they feel the Opposition is going to protest about, whether it is by not allowing the Leader of Opposition to speak,” Vadra said.

She further said the Centre was hindering the democratic process from functioning effectively in Parliament. “The opposition is often accused of sabotaging Parliament, but this is the process we see under this government... the government themselves sabotage the process, which is probably new for everybody,” she claimed.

Meanwhile, the party also hit out at the Modi government over the RBI’s decision to allow banks to increase charges on ATM cash withdrawals. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said a “painful” price rise and “unbridled loot” was the BJP's mantra. “Our banks have been made ‘collection agents’ by the Modi government!” Kharge said in a post on X.

“The Modi government has extracted at least Rs 43,500 crore due to non-maintenance of minimum balance from savings accounts and Jan Dhan accounts combined, between 2018 and 2024," he said.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also said that the BJP government’s “cronyism” and “regulatory mismanagement” had pushed India's banking sector into a crisis, saying it was in turn hurting junior employees who had to “endure stress and toxic work conditions”.