NEW DELHI: After the government decided not to convene Winter session Parliament due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Congress has criticized the Center for ‘subverting parlamentary democracy‘, alleging that the opposition was not consulted on the matter.
Speaking to IANS, former Union Minister Manish Tewari, who even protested in the Jantar Mantar demanding that the session be held, said: “Never before in the history of the Indian Parliament has parliamentary democracy been subverted in this way. When the standing committees of the parliament are meeting, the joint parliamentary commissions are convened three times a week, so why is the government running away from the Winter Session and hiding behind a pandemic that it has run completely and wrong? ”
“The country faces enormous challenges, China continues to illegally occupy our land, the economy is in recession, farmers are on the streets and there is no clarity on how vaccine would be managed. This charade has never happened since 1952, “Tewari added.
Another congressional leader, Jairam Ramesh, said: “The leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha was not consulted. Pralhad Joshi it is as usual to depart from the truth. ”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, in his letter to the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, made it clear that no winter session of Parliament will be convened due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is likely to be convene the budget session. in January 2021.
Chowdhury, in his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla On December 3, he had brought up a number of issues such as farmer agitation, Covid-19 vaccine status / readiness, Chinese intrusion, economic slowdown, and unemployment scenario to push for a short winter session.
Referring to that letter to Birla, Joshi wrote to Chowdhury that the winter months are crucial to managing the pandemic due to the recent outbreak of cases during this period, particularly in Delhi.
“Right now we are in mid-December and a Covid vaccine is expected very soon. In this regard, I have informally contacted the floor leaders of various political parties and they have expressed their concern about the ongoing pandemic and have opinion to end the winter session, “said Joshi.
“The government is willing to have the next session of Parliament as soon as possible. It would be appropriate to have the Budget Session in January 2021 taking into account the unprecedented circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Joshi said.
The Minister also noted that the monsoon session was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Monsson’s session of Parliament in September this year was one of the most productive sessions of Parliament, with 27 bills passed by both Houses.
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