'Irrational' approach of Congress hurting institutions: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the Congress for washout of the winter session of parliament and suggested its top leadership reconsider its "disproportionate and irrational approach" as it was "hurting institutions".

"The Congress leadership must seriously explore that its disproportionate and irrational approach in dealing with Parliament is hurting institutions.

"If Pandit Nehru can be credited in the initial years of our democracy of having laid down of healthy precedents being established, the current generation in control of the Congress will find a place in history of having weakened what their ancestors established," he said in a post on his Facebook page.

Jaitley also took on Congress for delaying GST.

"Has the country not lost out by delaying the GST since the last year's Budget Session?" he asked.

Asserting that parliamentary democracy has been India's foremost strength, Jaitley said: "Parliamentary protests are not unheard of in India. In extreme cases there are precedents of disturbance in the past. But the last two sessions have witnessed a clear stand of the Congress that parliament shall not be allowed to function."

Jaitley also contended that the Standing Committee mechanism which worked exceedingly well since 1993, has been weakened in the Rajya Sabha.

"Standing Committee mechanism has been weakened in the Rajya Sabha, by the house repeatedly appointing Select Committees, questioning the opinions of the Standing Committee. If this tendency continues, a successful institution of Standing Committee could be hurt," he said.