New Delhi: 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 led to a debate.
The BJP also said there was no such proposal before the government, but it would not mind discussing the issue.
After minister of state Mahesh Sharma’s suggestion of “no work, no pay”, the Congress hit back at him saying that such views were “wrong” as the Congress MPs were “working hard”.
Party spokesman Jairam Ramesh said, “We are working. We have standing committee meetings, I have a select committee meeting on land tomorrow and also a standing committee meeting on health. Therefore, it is wrong to say MPs are not working. MPs are working hard.”
Attacking the Congress, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the Opposition party may be upset with the government for “political reasons” but it must “accept and seriously introspect” that “negativism” and its “obstructionist tendencies” would hurt the country and the economy.
Describing the Congress as “confused”, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed the Opposition party had put itself in an “untenable position” and “pushed itself against the wall” by demanding the resignations of Ms Swaraj and two BJP Chief Ministers — Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Reacting sharply, Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “The blame for Parliament’s not functioning lies squarely with the Prime Minister for his arrogance and obduracy.”
Referring to Mr Jaitley’s comments, he said, “The unwarranted statement by the finance minister makes it abundantly clear that the government is not serious.”
