Congress slams Centre over winter session delay

Congress on Friday slammed the Modi government over the delay in convening the winter session of the parliament and accused the BJP of being scared of being put in the dock over the business dealings of Jay Shah and Shaurya Doval.

The winter session usually begins in the third week of November and continues till Christmas Eve. However, the government has not yet decided when to convene the session apparently due to the Gujarat Assembly elections.

The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) is yet to take place. It is the CCPA that recommends to the President to summon both houses of the parliament for any session.

Parliament sources said a curtailed winter session could be convened in the second week of December after the votes are cast for the Gujarat Assembly elections.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi wondered whether the Modi government was presenting a new model where in parliament session was being delayed because of elections in one state.

"Have Gujarat elections suddenly become so paramount that national parliament must be postponed," he said adding whether there will be no session next year as there will be elections in Madhya Pradesh.

He asked whether the government was planning to indulge in tokenism by convening the winter session for five to seven days.

"Who is helped by this tokenism? Is Jay who is helped or is Veer Shaurya helped," he said referring to the controversies over the business dealings of Jay Shah and Shaurya Doval, the sons of BJP President Amit Shah and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval respectively.

Singhvi said issues of national importance were going to be debated without the parliament.

"It helps people who do not want those debates," the congress leader said.