Both the houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die marking the completion of the winter session after passing of 14 bills in Lok Sabha and nine bills in Rajya Sabha amid persistent uproar by opposition over various issues.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu accused Congress of using its numbers in the Rajya Sabha to paralyze the functioning of the House. He backed the talks for redefining the role of the Rajya Sabha in view of disruptions.
Briefing MEDIA in New Delhi, Mr. Naidu said the country is disappointed with the functioning of Parliament and charged the Congress with cheating the people by not allowing the government to do legislative business during the Winter Session. The Minister said, in this session, the Lok Sabha passed 14 Bills registering 104 per cent productivity while the Rajya Sabha passed only nine bills witnessing 46 per cent productivity.
Mr Naidu added that the Congress was looking for lame excuses to paralyse Parliament on a day to day basis and accused the opposition party of being intolerant towards the mandate of the people given to NDA government. He also alleged that Congress does not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to succeed because he will be a threat to the opposition party in future.
The 237th Session of the Rajya Sabha ended this afternoon. In his valedictory remarks, Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari regretted that in terms of legislative work, the session was singularly unproductive.
Interruptions in the functioning of the House continued to result in loss of working time and neglect of the listed business. It denied the Members opportunities to seek accountability of the executive through questions, Zero Hour issues, discussions and debates on public interest and concern. It also reduced or eliminated the opportunities to scrutinize legislative proposals.
Mr Ansari observed that a functioning legislature is essential for democracy. Disruptions amount to its negation. He appealed to the members to introspect on this state of affairs and desist from any attempt to demean the stature of the Rajya Sabha. Wishing them well for the New Year, Mr Ansari adjourned the House sine die.
Earlier, the Lok Sabha came to an end after Congress members disrupted the proceedings over the alleged irregularities in Delhi and District Cricket Association, DDCA. They demanded the resignation of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and staged a walk out for a brief period but they returned soon.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House sine die requesting the members to participate in the proceedings as much as they can. She informed the House that a total of 20 sittings were held during the winter session. The Speaker has expunged her own vested interest remark made yesterday after Congress objects to it. Earlier, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarujun Kharge had demanded to expunge Speaker’s remarks.