Modi ministers 'not elitist': Ravi Shankar Prasad

The ministers in the Narendra Modi government are not elitist and remain in touch with common people on the ground, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday.

He was responding to a media query as to why the entire Modi cabinet is busy in door-to-door election campaign in Gujarat while there is no news of Parliament's Winter Session as yet.

"Only because ministers of this government remain in touch with common people, what is the problem? We don't have any problem in meeting the people and going door-to-door. The ministers of Modi government are not elitist. They don't only tweet but they are on ground too," Prasad said responding to a poser if the parliamentary democracy has taken a back seat in the heat of the election campaign.

"As far as Parliament session is concerned, I understand the Parliamentary Affairs Committee will take a call. (Parliamentary Affairs Minister) Ananth Kumar is in touch with them."

The two-phased polls in Gujarat are scheduled to be held on December 9 and 14. Since Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, the saffron party is leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to the voters.

The Congress and other opposition parties have been demanding the convening of the Winter Session of Parliament at the earliest.

The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the Modi government is deliberately avoiding facing Parliament.

"Parliament is the mirror of accountability. Parliament is the only platform to discuss several policies of the government. It is the most important constitutional base to expose the discrepancies of the government," said party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Usually, Parliament's Winter Session commences from mid-November and goes on till December-end. However, this time around there has been no news of Winter Session and speculations are rife that the session would be very short.

Informed sources said on Thursday that the dates for the session were likely to be decided at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs to be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday.

--IANS

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