The Congress on Friday alleged that lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was pressurised by the Government to admit the adjournment motion on lalit Modi issue. It also attacked the NDA Government saying the BJP was running a weak and inefficient Government, which had no coordination plan either in the lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament.
Congress’s leader in the lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the move by the Speaker on the penultimate day of the session came after she was pressurised by the Government on the issue.
At a joint Press conference along with leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kharge said it was strange how the Speaker gave her consent to what she had rejected before in writing.
“That showed how much pressure” she was under from the Government, he added.
For his part, Azad said: “BJP does not believe in democracy and this has been proved in this session. The ruling party did not want the house to run. BJP is intoxicated with power. No major legislative business could be transacted in either House of Parliament since July 21 when Parliament convened till August 13 when it adjourned sine die.” On the issue of Government protest march outside Parliament on Thursday, Azad said the “save democracy march” led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was “an evidence that the Congress got the ruling party on the road”.
“This is the first time we have seen the Government marching on the road and create uproar in the House. We saw not just the BJP MPs but also the Ministers stand and disrupt the House,” said Azad.
On the issue of GST Bill, on which the Government is expected to convene a special Parliament session, the Congress said, “GST is not the only bill for the economic development of this country...one or two bills will not lead to the economic development of this country.”
Azad also attacked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and said the allegations levelled by Swaraj against former PM late Rajiv Gandhi were baseless, sheer falsehood and motivated, and the party completely rejected them.