Onus of running parliament smoothly on BJP: Lok Sabha Congress leader

The Congress party does not want any "unnecessary disruptions" during the upcoming winter session of parliament, according to a top leader of the party.

Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha says that his party is all for peaceful discussion on issues of national importance, but the onus of ensuring smooth functioning of Parliament would be on the BJP.

"We are ready to cooperate (on running the house smoothly) but the obligation of it would be on the BJP," Kharge told IANS in a telephonic interview.

The winter session of parliament begins on November 26 and will last till December 23.

The Congress leader, when asked about the impact of Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in Bihar assembly polls on Parliament, said no party wanted disruptions in the house but the BJP cannot go on "bulldozing (the Opposition) in the Lok Sabha" just because it has a majority.

"They would have to make it a bilateral process. (They) would have to discuss issues with opposition parties before proceeding ahead," he said, accusing the ruling alliance of not taking the Opposition into confidence in the past which resulted in problems in the Rajya Sabha.

Kharge said that the Congress party would meet either on November 25 or 26 to decide its strategy. He said his party would also discuss the issues with all opposition parties before the session begins.

The Congress leader stressed several times that the Opposition would not try to disrupt parliamentary proceedings unnecessarily.

"There would be no unwarranted disruptions," he said, adding that they would raise various issues, including inflation, atrocities on Dalits and the Dadri incident.

"We want public grievances to be highlighted," he said.

On being asked about BJP's comment atht there would not be any impact of Bihar results on national politics, Kharge said: "They themselves are demoralised. How can they say it would have no impact."

The Congress leader warned that "If anything goes wrong" the ruling party would be responsible for it unless they followed a policy of "give and take."

The last session of the 16th Lok Sabha witnessed constant disruptions and no major business could be transacted.

(Sushil Kumar can be reached at sushil.k@ians.in)