New Delhi: Ahead of the all-party meeting called by the government on Monday to end the Parliament logjam, its ministers and the opposition Congress engaged in a war of words on Sunday, with the government urging the Congress to “accept and seriously introspect” that “negativism” and its “obstructionist tendencies” would hurt the country and the economy. The Congress, in turn, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “arrogance” for the Parliament logjam.
The ruling BJP also hit back at the Congress, which wants to discuss external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s resignation over the “Lalitgate” issue at the meeting.
It said the opposition party had pushed itself “against the wall” by its demand, and a debate on the issue would be an “honourable exit” for it.
Amid the parliamentary stalemate, Union minister of state Mahesh Sharma, who had on Saturday said there was a suggestion to apply the “no work, no pay" principle for MPs as it was done with bureaucrats, went into a denial mode on Sunday after his remarks lead to a debate. After minister of state Mr Sharma’s suggestion, the Congress hit back at him saying that such views were “wrong” as the Congress MPs were “working hard”.
