Opposition parties accused the government of adjourning the Budget session of Parliament ahead of schedule to duck the debate on escalating prices of fuel and other essential commodities. Countering the charge, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) had requested the session’s adjournment a day early in view of Ram Navami.
Not in a mood to spare the government, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said that each day the country woke up to a fuel price hike and despite repeated demands from the Opposition, the government fled from a discussion by adjourning the House early. “They were worried that they could get exposed if such a debate happened,” he said. He added that two working days had been lost in the process.
The party also criticised the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, for his “rare appearances” in the Upper House. “We have seen Arun Jaitley and his successor Thawar Chand Gehlot work as the Leader of House. They used to sit for extended period of times. It is extraordinary that the current leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, is rarely present,“ Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, also pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last eight years, had attended the House only a handful of times.
