New Delhi: The Winter Session of Parliament is likely from December 15 to January 5, sources in the government said on Wednesday.
The Centre has been facing opposition fire over delay in the session. On Monday, Sonia Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of sabotaging the session on flimsy grounds and said he lacks the courage to face the House.
The Winter Session traditionally convenes from the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.
Government sources the delay was on account of overlapping of the session with the campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly elections and such delays have also happened in the past.
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Sonia said the “The Narendra Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India's Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the Parliament session on flimsy grounds.”
“It is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections,” she added.
In a scathing attack, she said Modi had the “audacity to have a midnight celebration in Parliament to launch an ill-prepared and flawed” Goods and Services Tax (GST) but lacked the courage to face Parliament.
“Parliament is the forum in which questions should be asked – questions about corruption in high places, conflict of interest of serving ministers and dubious defense deals. In order to avoid the questions and answer ahead of Gujarat elections, the government has taken the extraordinary step of not holding a winter session when they should be held,” Gandhi said on Monday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refuted the allegations and said Congress, too, had delayed Parliament sessions in the past. He said that dates would be announced soon and sessions were often rescheduled to ensure they did not overlap with elections.
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