'Parliament being made irrelevant, presiding officers complicit'

Even after the end of the Monsoon Session, the Congress has kept up its attack on the government and on Friday, its chief whip Jairam Ramesh accused it of trying to make the parliament irrelevant. The opposition took out a march on Thursday and a joint opposition delegation met the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

New Delhi: Even after the end of the Monsoon Session, Congress kept up its attack on the government. On Friday, its chief whip Jairam Ramesh accused it of making the parliament irrelevant. "Why's the Opposition agitated?" One of the reasons: ONLY 12 per cent of Bills in Modi-II have gone through any Parliamentary Committee scrutiny. This was 27 per cent in Modi-I, 71 per cent in UPA-II & 60 per cent in UPA-I.

"Parliament is being made irrelevant by Modi Govt & the Presiding Officers are complicit," he said in a tweet.

The opposition took out a march on Thursday and a joint opposition delegation met the Rajya Sabha Chairman. A joint statement issued by 14 opposition leaders said: "It is the government, which is squarely responsible for the stalemate, that has refused to accept the opposition's demand for an informed debate in both the houses. The government used its brute majority to push through its legislative agenda in violation of established procedures, conventions, and spirit of Parliamentary democracy."

However, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had blamed the opposition for the incident which happened on Wednesday.

(IANS)