New Delhi: Hitting out at the Opposition for stalling proceedings of the Parliament, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is deputy leader in Rajya Sabha and Union Minister of Minority Affairs, said on Friday that Congress has once again disappointed the country as the Opposition party is stalling the government work in the Parliament on unsubstantiated, baseless and fabricated issue of Pegasus, which has no relevance to interests of the people of the country.
"After demanding for the last six months that the session of Parliament be convened for having an elaborate discussion on various issues, including the Covid-19 crisis, the Opposition has not shown any interest in joining the proceedings for even a single day during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament," he said, adding that the Opposition leaders have made it clear in their statements that this entire session has been "washed out" from their side. The country's 'Grand Old party Congress, is becoming "champion" of this "irresponsible politics" done by some Opposition parties, he further alleged.
"In May, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had requested the President of India to convene a special session of Parliament immediately. The Congress leader had then said that the session is very important as all the MPs want to discuss the situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in their respective areas,: he said, adding, "The Congress' "new friend" Shiv Sena MP and leader Sanjay Raut had also reiterated the demand for the special session of Parliament.
"Even though the government put in all efforts to control the second wave of the pandemic, convening a Parliament session at that moment was not advisable as Covid-19 protocols, the Opposition members continued to criticise the government's stand for several days," he said. The Monsoon session is underway for more than a week and the Opposition is not allowing the Parliament to work smoothly even for a single day, he alleged.
Besides, when on the first day of the session Prime Minister Narendra Modiji invited leaders of the Opposition parties for a special meeting to share their suggestions regarding the steps taken by the government to tackle the Covid-19 and future course of action to deal the pandemic, some leaders, including those from the Congress, had questioned the need for a separate meeting citing that House has started, he said.