Does PM want Rajya Sabha to be a rubber stamp: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the latter had to plead with the Opposition for early scheduling of his speech in the Rajya Sabha as he had to depart on an official visit to Japan.

“This is a completely false statement. The Opposition had made it clear that the prime minister can decide on the time to speak as we were aware about his commitments,” Anand Sharma, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, said here.

Sharma was responding to Modi's claim in the Rajya Sabha that he had to plead with the opposition to schedule in a response to the debate in the Upper House on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address as he had to leave for the G20 Summit in Japan on Wednesday evening.

Congress hit back at Modi for terming the Rajya Sabha as an “obstructionist” House claiming that several legislation were stalled in the Upper House where the Opposition had greater numbers.

"Does the prime minister expect the Rajya Sabha to be a rubber stamp,” asked Sharma.

He said the Prime Minister had insulted the Council of States by describing it as “obstructionist” and asked him to recall the number of bills stalled by the BJP while it was in the Opposition between 2004 and 2014.

“The BJP had brute majority in the Lok Sabha and did not send bills for scrutiny by the Parliamentary Standing Committees. The Rajya Sabha was only performing its duty by sending it to the Select Committee,” Sharma said.

The Congress leader said that the prime minister spoke at length in the Rajya Sabha but made no reference to the basic issues raised by the Opposition such as rising unemployment and farm distress.