Arun Jaitley hits back at Sonia Gandhi, says Congress also rescheduled Parliament sessions

Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley on Monday clashed over the delay in convening the Winter session of Parliament.

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New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday hit back at Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for accusing the Modi government of delaying the convening of the Winter Session of Parliament.

The BJP leader said that rescheduling of Parliament sessions has happened several times before during election time.

Assembly polls are due to be held in Gujarat in two phases on December 9 and 14.

The Winter session of Parliament usually starts in the third week of November and lasts until the third week of December.

According to sources, the government is considering a truncated Winter session of around 10 days starting from the second week of December, PTI reported.

What Jaitley said:

Jaitley said the Opposition party had also delayed a session in 2011 and even earlier because the sittings coincided with election campaigns.

"It has been a tradition and it has happened several times that Parliament sessions are rescheduled when an election is happening," he told reporters.

The FM also said the session would be held and the Congress "totally exposed".

"The Congress has given the most corrupt government in its ten years of rule, while Narendra Modi has given the most honest government. By forcibly saying that a truth is a lie does not make it a lie," Jaitley said.

What Sonia said:

Hitting out at PM Modi, Sonia on Monday warned the NDA regime that it can not escape constitutional accountability by "locking the temple of democracy".

Addressing the Congress working committee, which met on Monday to finalise the schedule for the election of the next Congress chief, Sonia said that despite PM Modi`s failure to adhere to the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he continues making "false promises".

"The Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India`s Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the Winter Session of Parliament on flimsy grounds. The government is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat," she said in her opening remarks. 

Sonia added that Parliament was the forum in which questions should be asked - questions about corruption in high places, conflict of interest of serving ministers and dubious defence deals. 

"Government will be obliged to answer these questions, but in order to avoid the questions and answers ahead of Gujarat elections, the government has taken the extraordinary step of not holding a Winter Session when it should be held," she said. 

Sonia further said that the Prime Minister had the "audacity to hold a midnight celebration in Parliament to launch an ill-prepared and flawed GST but he lacks the courage to face Parliament".

(With PTI and IANS inputs)