We’re open, but govt is not: Cong

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

Moments after President Pranab Mukherjee expressed concerns over the continuing logjam in Parliament, the Opposition Congress today said it was open to considering ways of running the Houses but the Government was not keen to reach out.

“We agree with what the President is saying and squarely hold the government responsible for continued disruption in Parliament. The ruling party is instrumental in this disruption. It is for the government to come forward. They are not making any attempts. The government is provoking the Opposition. Union ministers are constantly making statements against the Opposition,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said today, attacking the government’s demonetisation scheme as a “disaster” and the “biggest scam of the 20th and 21st centuries”.

Asked if the Opposition was willing to talk to the government and run the Houses, Azad said, “Let the government come forward with a suggestion. We can consider it. But the problem is the government is behaving like an opposition. It doesn’t seem interested in running Parliament. The PM is happier making policy announcements outside even while Parliament is in session.”

The Congress slammed the government as “insensitive” for failing to discuss demonetisation in Parliament despite over “100 alleged deaths due to the scheme”. As a month ended since demonetisation was announced on November 8, Azad said it was a case of the PM using an “atom bomb to kill a mouse”. He was referring to small proportions of fake money in the total currency which stood replaced post demonetisation and to the Revenue Secretary’s remarks that most of money had re-entered the system.

The government, meanwhile, is not opening talks with the Opposition, which is seeking the PM’s presence through the demonetisation debate in the House.