Even Cong used to push parliament session dates as per elections: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday hit back at the Congress over the latter's allegation of casting a "dark shadow on parliamentary democracy" by failing to announce the dates of Winter Session of the Parliament.

"Even when Congress was in power, they use to decide the dates of the winter session in a way that they do not clash with elections. Winter session will definitely take place and the government will announce the dates soon. We will surely address the issue raised by the oppositions," Jaitely said while addressing the media here.

The grand-old party has alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government was deliberately trying to push the dates for the session, as they did not want to face 'uncomfortable questions' ahead of Gujarat assembly elections in December.

The senior BJP leader also said the party would win the election convincingly as people's support was with them.

"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," said Congress president Sonia Gandhi while addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting in Delhi today.

Sonia further said the Centre cannot escape constitutional accountability by "locking the temple of democracy".

Last week, Minister of State (MoS) for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said the date for winter session of Parliament would be decided before Sunday (November 19).

The election to 182-seat Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 09 and 14 and the results will be declare on December 18.