Headlines
BJP, Congress spar bitterly ahead of all-party meeting
New Delhi, Aug 2
The BJP and Congress on Sunday launched fresh attacks against each
other with union minister Arun Jaitely accusing the Congress of having
"obstructionist tendencies" and the main opposition blaming the prime
minister's "obduracy" for the logjam in parliament.
The sharp
attacks from both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress party were
witnessed on the eve of the all-party meet called by Parliamentary
Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu in an effort to end the parliamentary
stalemate during the ongoing Monsoon Session.
Monday's meeting
is intended to break the parliamentary deadlock of last two weeks over
former IPL chief Lalit Modi issue and the Vyapam scam, which have led to
repeated adjournments of the two houses since the ongoing session began
on July 22.
Congress leader Anand Sharma, who had earlier said
that the party wanted tangible proposition from the government ahead of
the meeting, on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led
government was not serious in breaking the stalemate.
Speaking in Hyderabad, Naidu hoped Monday's all-party meet would be fruitful.
"Tomorrow
(Monday), I have called an all-party meeting and hope the meeting will
be fruitful and we will be able to resolve the issues and move forward,"
he said.
"I appeal to the Congress -- Please do not hurt the interests of the country. Let us not indulge in a blame game," Naidu said.
Congress
and some other opposition parties are demanding resignations of
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje over their alleged help to former IPL chief Lalit Modi
and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam
scam.
Lalit Modi is facing investigations from the Enforcement Directorate.
Maintaining
that no minister had "done anything wrong, nothing illegal or immoral",
Naidu said the central government was ready to discuss any issue.
Jaitley,
in a Facebook post on Sunday, held the Congress responsible for
disrupting parliament and said "its obstructionist tendencies inflict an
economic injury on the country".
Jaitley made a point-wise
rebuttal of the Congress's dissent note to the Rajya Sabha Select
Committee on Goods and Services Tax bill.
"Since parliament is
not functioning and there is no way to clarify these points before the
same, I am constrained to place the above facts in public domain," the
finance minister wrote in the post titled "Dissent or Disruption - The
Congress Party's Position on GST".
"Should its (Congress) obstructionist tendencies inflict an economic injury on the country," he asked.
In
a press conference, Minister of State for Commerce and BJP leader
Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of being "confused and afraid",
saying Congress president Sonia Gandhi would have to take the blame if
the session was washed out.
"The position of the Congress keeps
changing. They are confused and want every debate outside parliament.
The confusion created by the Congress is prevailing and people of India
(are) being denied a meaningful parliament session," she said.
She
said the Congress was scared of the good performance witnessed during
the previous parliament session (Budget session) when productivity of
both the parliamentary houses was recorded above 100 percent.
Congress
leader Anand Sharma later hit back at the BJP, saying the party and
Jaitley should not give "patronising" sermons to the Congress "but
should collectively reflect and apologise for their own conduct while in
opposition".
"The unwarranted, uncharitable and provocative
statement made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the BJP accusing the
Congress of disruption makes it abundantly clear that the government is
neither serious nor sincere in breaking the stalemate for parliament to
function," he said.
"The blame for parliament not functioning lies squarely with the prime minister for his arrogance and obduracy," Sharma said.
He said the credit for the parliament work over the past year goes to the responsible and mature opposition.
Sharma
said it is the responsibility of the Congress and the opposition
parties to expose the "hypocrisy, double speak and double standard on
propriety, probity and accountability".