Govt 'avoiding' Parliamentry session in view of Guj polls: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress today alleged that the government was “avoiding” the Winter Session of Parliament in view of the Gujarat assembly elections and to evade facing the opposition that wanted to raise issues like scams of ministers, Rafale deal, GST and note ban during it. The opposition party alleged the Modi government is working under its model of “bypass, bulldoze and betray”, which is an “attack on democracy”.

Addressing a press conference, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “he is Brahma, he is the creator” as it was only he who knew when the Winter Session of Parliament would be convened. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government was “shying away” from facing Parliament in order to “hide its corruption and failures”.

He alleged that Modi and his cabinet was becoming a “campaign machine” aggressively canvassing in Gujarat and elsewhere and said the people want the government to run the country instead. Kharge also accused the prime minister of “destroying” the temple of democracy due to Gujarat elections next month.

Congress leader Anand Sharma also hit back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and said it is “condemnable and deplorable” as one did not expect this in a democracy. Gandhi yesterday accused Modi of sabotaging the Winter Session on flimsy grounds by “locking the temple of democracy”.

“The Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India’s Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the winter session of Parliament on flimsy grounds,” she said addressing the meeting of the Congress Working Committee. Gandhi said the government is “mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the Assembly elections” of delaying the winter session on “flimsy grounds”.