Gandhi in her letter demanded the agenda of the special Parliament session to be disclosed along with proposing nine issues which included the Manipur violence and price rise. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi's reaction came hours after the letter was made public.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is trying to politicise the Parliament's functioning and trying to create a controversy by penning a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to propose the issues the Opposition parties want to discuss during the special Parliament session.
Gandhi in her letter demanded the agenda of the special Parliament session to be disclosed along with proposing nine issues which included the Manipur violence and price rise. Pralhad Joshi's reaction came hours after the letter was made public.
Joshi in his response said, "It is very unfortunate that you are trying to politicise the functioning of Parliament, our temple of democracy, and create unnecessary controversy."
Joshi posted his response letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi where he also wrote, "It is the constitutional right of the Government of India to call a session of Parliament. I hope that all the parties will extend their full cooperation in maintaining the dignity of the Parliament. Our government is always ready to discuss any issue."
He mentioned that the Parliament session has been convened from September 18 after following all established procedures. He also pointed out that political parties are never consulted in advance in such cases.
Further, Joshi said that the issues mentioned by Sonia Gandhi in her letter have already been discussed and answered by the government during the debate on the no-trust motion during the Monsoon session of the Parliament.
In another post on X, Joshi wrote, "Congress has no faith in democratic rules and traditions and it has become a habit of Congress to raise questions on parliamentary proceedings by raising any issue unnecessarily."
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing disappointment at the Centre's decision not to discuss the agenda of a special parliamentary session which has been widely criticised. Nine further issues have been added to the letter which are pending a debate.
Gandhi also explicitly stated that the INDIA bloc would take part in a special session of Parliament and use it to raise important public issues.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh at a press conference said," Sonia Gandhi has mentioned in the letter (to PM Modi) that the session has been called without any prior discussion with the opposition. She has also sought details of the agenda of the session."
The Opposition parties met at Gandhi's residence yesterday and they agreed to demand transparency from the Centre regarding the agenda of the special Parliament session.
The special session of Parliament is scheduled from September 18 to September 22.