Opposition 'perturbed' over enhanced productivity of Parliament: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday accused opposition MPs, who have written to the Rajya Sabha chairman over "rushing" of bills, of disrupting the House and said that the opposition was "perturbed" with the enhanced productivity of Parliament.

"They have been disrupting the House for almost two years without respecting the people's mandate. Their problem is that Parliament's productivity has increased. This is a million-dollar question -- Why the opposition is perturbed and disturbed with the increased productivity. What is wrong in passing the bills," he told ANI.

He also said that the opposition parties are not in favour of passing many bills in Parliament and maintained that the government was trying to discharge its duties. "The basic task of parliament is to make laws and pass the bill," he said.

He said: "A total of 14 bills have been passed in this session. Seven bills have already been scrutinised by the Standing Committees. Remaining bills were passed by the Lok Sabha but stalled in the Rajya Sabha. Since they have the majority in the House, they are not letting the bills to be passed in the Upper House."

"Creating hurdle, disrupting and disregarding the mandate of the people is not acceptable," the minister said.

Seventeen opposition parties on Friday wrote to the Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, raising concerns over "hurriedly" passing the Bills in Parliament without any scrutiny.

The parties lamented that the government was not allowing members sufficient time to study a bill and move amendments between their introduction.