Onus on government to run Parliament, says Rahul Gandhi

Union Minister Goyal said that if the onus of running Parliament is on the government, it is also the responsibility of the opposition to cooperate

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday blamed the government for the stalemate in Parliament and said that the onus of running the House is on the government.

Countering the government's charge accusing the opposition of not allowing the House to function, Rahul Gandhi said: "We are not being allowed to raise issues in the House. We want the government to remove Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni and discuss the Lakhimpur Kheri case in the House but the government did not allow us to do so."

He added, "We wanted to raise the issue of Ladakh, but the government did not allow. Similarly, the government did not allow discussion on the issues of farmers, suspension of Rajya Sabha MPs and then accuses us that we are not allowing the House to function."

He said that it is the government's responsibility to run the House and conduct business in a proper way.

Responding to the phone tapping case, Rahul said that even in the Pegasus case, the government did not allow discussion in the House. He alleged that democracy is under attack and this is happening time and again.

Responding to Rahul Gandhi's allegations, Leader of the Rajya Sabha and Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that if the onus of running Parliament is on the government, it is also the responsibility of the opposition to cooperate.

Targeting the opposition parties, Goyal said that the MPs create a ruckus, hurt the dignity of the House and are not even ready to apologise. It shows the mentality of the opposition.

Goyal added that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had called the leaders of the suspended MPs for a meeting at the behest of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, but they did not come.

Speaking on Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge's allegation of breaking opposition unity, Goyal said that if he had anything to suggest, he should have come for the meeting. The government would have called other parties also.

Reacting to Congress MP Anand Sharma's advice to follow the example of 2010, Piyush Goyal said that no BJP MP was suspended in 2010, but still Arun Jaitley as the Leader of Opposition at that time criticized the behaviour of MPs and expressed regret several times. He said the MPs had also personally apologized at that time.

Pralhad Joshi claimed that in India's parliamentary history since 1962, MPs have been suspended several times and every time the suspension was revoked after tendering of apology.

--IANS

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