No early end to Parliament session, says Minister

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Wednesday ruled out an early end for the Budget Session while blaming the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi for the disruptions in the two houses.

"The productivity of Parliament has gone down since Rahul Gandhi became Congress President," he said.

Stressing that the government wanted the Parliament to run, he ruled out an early end to the session.

"We are not adjourning the Houses sine die before schedule. We want to run the House, it is Congress that is disrupting," he said, also accusing Opposition leaders of spreading rumors about an early conclusion to the Budget session.

On Wednesday morning, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had said in Lok Sabha that several MPs were telling her to adjourn the House sine die if the logjam continues.

Ananth Kumar said: "I hold Congress squarely responsible for this situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the government wants the Houses to run. We don't want to adjourn the Houses sine die ahead of schedule," he said.

He also rejected Opposition's allegation that the logjam was being stage managed by the government, saying: "AIADMK and TRS... both have been in the well of the house (before the Speaker's podium since day one, no confidence motion came much later."

He also took a dig at the Congress for following the trail of other Opposition parties in giving a no confidence motion notice.

"Usually, it is the main opposition party that gives a notice of no confidence, here Congress is following the lead of smaller parties. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Congress has become a marginal party," he said.

Both Houses of Parliament have been marred by protests since the second half of Budget Sesion started on March 5. The session will conclude on April 6.

--IANS

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