Jaitley tears into Sonia and Rahul

As disruptions rocked the last week of Parliament’s Monsoon session, the government on Monday came down heavily on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi for stalling the House, accused them of using the row over Sushma Swaraj as a “pretext” to stop passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.  

The Rajya Sabha witnessed the war of words between the treasury and Opposition Benches on efforts to end the three-week long impasse. 

Leader of the House Arun Jaitley charged the Opposition of trying to avoid the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST on the pretext of Lalit Modi controversy. When the House met at <g data-gr-id="77">2pm</g> after two adjournments, Jaitley made it clear that the government has been making serious efforts to end the logjam that has been disrupting the proceedings of the House for many days.

He said the government was also in touch with a large number of Congress leaders including the Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad. Jaitley alleged that the Opposition was adopting the strategy of disruptions and disturbances. He also said the government got an uneasy impression that the Opposition does not want the GST Bill to be passed.

“The assessment in the government is that there are not many in even Congress pushing this logic that House should not run. Only their top two leaders... have been stubborn on it. (They say) Parliament should not function, legislations should not be passed,” Jaitley said.

 Attacking Sonia Gandhi, Jaitley said her policies, which “inflicted” on the then UPA government, were “directly responsible” for slowing down the economy. Even when the UPA was in power, economic growth had ceased to be a priority for Congress, he said. On the GST Bill, he said, Congress was “completely isolated”. “Its best endeavour is that since it won’t be able to stop the GST it is definitely trying to delay,” Jaitley said.

Most of the proceedings in both the Houses were stalled on Monday as the impasse between the Opposition and the government over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam issues entered the fourth week. 

All the 25 suspended members of the Congress returned to the House on Monday morning. When the House met at2pm after witnessing three adjournments, Deputy Speaker Thambidurai conducted the Zero Hour mentions amidst pandemonium. As the din continued, he adjourned the House for the day. 

The government will on Tuesday bring the much-awaited Bill on GST for passage in the Rajya Sabha even as doubts persist if the Opposition Congress will allow its passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill.

The Revised List of Business of Rajya Sabha said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will move the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014, incorporating recommendations made by a House Select Committee.