Congress blames government for Parliament logjam

The Congress on Friday blamed the government of exerting pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to not let the no-confidence motion being taken up, and held it responsible for not letting the Parliament function.

Responding to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar holding the party responsible for the parliament not functioning, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said: "We condemn this allegation. It doesn't behove a government to lie in such a manner."

"By spreading such lies if they want to improve their image and try to mislead the nation. then it is shameful, condemnable. We wanted the Parliament to function and discussion on important and urgent issues," he added.

Noting they wanted to raise bank fraud cases, mainly PNB scam as well as other key issues, he said that the they didn't get the chance as "government planned it in such a way that they they encouraged every party to disrupt the House".

Kharge said Mahajan didn't allow the no-confidence against the government to be taken up.

"After YSR and TDP brought no-confidence motion, even we brought it. About 50 MPs were ready. The Speaker said I can't count. The government also said it cannot count. To make it easier, we made 80 MPs stand with numbers (1 to 80) each. They didn't see that too...," he added.

"The Speaker had earlier suspended many of our MPs for various reasons. This time MPs from NDA's allies were disrupting the proceedings. Why didn't the Speaker suspend them this time?" he asked.

Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said: "We wanted debate, accountability and we shall continue to demand that. Today we told the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Venkaiah Naidu) to inform the government that we are willing, do not prorogue the Houses.

He urged the government to reconvene the Parliament for two weeks or ten days to debate crucial issues and to bring the important laws.

On NDA MPs giving up their salaries, Sharma said: "They destroyed session after session when UPA government was in office. Ask them to give up the salary or refund the salary of the period when they did not allow both the Houses to function when the BJP was in opposition."

--IANS

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