BJP, govt preparing to 'scuttle' Monsoon Session: Cong

The Congress today accused the BJP and the government of attempting to scuttle the Monsoon Session of Parliament, scheduled to start from July 18, by raising issues that rake up conflict.

Senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was running away from his responsibility of accountability to Parliament.

He appealed to Modi and his government to give up the "mindset of conflict and confrontation" in the country's larger interest.

"The prime minister and the government are not interested in the Monsoon Session. They have started raising issues that lead to conflict. Like the last session, the prime minister wants to run away from his accountability before Parliament," he told reporters.

The Congress leader, who is also the deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha, alleged that the ruling dispensation wasted the last session and blamed the opposition for it instead.

No significant business could be taken up in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session, which witnessed a washout. The opposition alleged that it was the government which "engineered" protests by some parties to "scuttle" Parliament.

"The BJP and the government are preparing to scuttle this Monsoon Session so that they run away from questions and issues that have taken place since the last session," he said, alleging that they were not ready to answer before Parliament.

Sharma said the government could not escape accountability and should be prepared to answer issues raised by the opposition and allow Parliament to function.

He alleged that the government did not believe in consensus on any issue and instead believed in confrontation.

"We appeal to the government to give up this mindset of confrontation and behave like a responsible government and allow the Parliament to function in larger national interest," he said.

Referring to a recent meeting of Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel with former prime minister Manmohan Singh, he said there had to be a structured dialogue with top leaders of opposition parties, including the leader of opposition.

He said there had been no proper dialogue between the opposition and the government.

The former Union minister also alleged that the prime minister was someone who did not believe in consensus and said there was no dialogue between him and the opposition so far.

"The government are in a perpetual conflict with the opposition," he said.

The Congress leader said the government should be prepared for legislative and Parliamentary scrutiny.