New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday questioned the conclusion of the Budget Session of Parliament ahead of schedule, accusing the government of running away from a discussion on price rise and inflation demanded jointly by a combined opposition.
Noting that the government had allocated time for a discussion on price rise during the meeting of the business advisory committee (BAC) of the Lok Sabha and for crucial bills in the BAC meeting of the Rajya Sabha, the leader of Congress in the lower house Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the government has resorted to “breach of commitment” by not allowing so.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge charged that the government is running away from a discussion on price rise and said they will continue to raise the issue and take to the streets.
“Parliament has been closed two days before even though they gave the agenda for up to Friday. We feel that the government is not keen to resolve the problems of the poor, unemployed and farmers.
“The government is not ready for a discussion and ended Parliament two days ahead of schedule,” Kharge told reporters at a joint press conference.
Noting that it is incumbent upon the government to conduct the business of the House, Chowdhury said, “It is a breach of the commitment made by the government” by not allowing a discussion on price rise after allocating time for it in the BAC.
“The credibility index of the government is under question,” he alleged.
Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said the BAC in the Upper House allotted time for many bills and the opposition was ready for them.
But, we came to know on Wednesday that the House would be adjourned sine die, he said.
“The government was running away from a discussion on price rise as all opposition parties wanted a discussion, but the government did not.We also wanted a discussion on the agreement with farmers bodies, but the government wanted to avoid it,” Ramesh also said.
“Two days were wasted as the government adjourned the House. It is a failure of the government and not ours,” the Congress leader said.
Ramesh also said the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal was “missing”.
“We have seen Arun Jaitley and Thawar Chand Gehlot, who were both leaders of the House, and always used to be present. It is the responsibility of the Leader of the House to be present. It is for the first time I have seen that the Leader of the House is missing. The prime minister may have come four-five times ever since the House sat for this session,” he said.
He also said that “It was wrong to get the Criminal Procedure Code Bill without bringing the DNA regulation Bill and Data Privacy Bill”.
