AMN / NEW DELHI
Respoding to Congress Parliamentary Party chairman Sonia Gandhi’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the special session of Parliament, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi accused the Congress leader of trying to create a controversy when there is none and politicizing the work of Parliament.
Earlier today, Sonia Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Modi expressing her displeasure over not being informed about the agenda of the five-day special session of the Parliament.
“I must point out that this special session has been convened without any consultation with other political parties. None of us have any idea of its agenda. All we have been communicated is that all five days have been allocated for government business,” she wrote.
In response, the Union Minister said that the agenda of the session, according to the precedent, is discussed in an all party meeting before the start of the session and after the President’s announcement of the date for the new session.
“Before calling a session, consultations are never done with other political parties and nor do we discuss the issues. We do call leaders of all parties after the President announces the date for the new session for a meeting in which we discuss the issues and business that will taken up during the session,” Joshi said.
In her letter to PM Modi, Gandhi had also sought to discuss the issues of Manipur, China’s alleged occupation of Indian land and JPC formation to investigate Adani group among others. On this, the minister said that these issues were discussed and responded by the government during the no-confidence motion debate in the previous Monsoon session.
“We are ready for a debate on every issue. But the issues that you have mentioned have already been discussed during the no-confidence motion debate during the monsoon session of Parliament,” he said.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister also said that the business of the special session will be announced at the appropriate time and in accordance with the set precedent. The government has called a five day special session of Parliament from September 18.