Jaitley refutes Sonia’s charge of govt sabotaging Parl session

Team Udayavani, Nov 20, 2017, 3:12 PM IST

Rajkot: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said Parliament sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they did not overlap with elections and claimed the Congress had done so too in the past.

On Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s allegation that the government was “sabotaging” the Winter session of Parliament, Jaitley said the opposition party had also delayed a session in 2011 and even earlier because the sittings coincided with election campaigns.

“It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that Parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening,” he told reporters here. He also said the session would be held and the Congress “totally exposed”.

“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 until 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.”