Govt ready for debate in Parliament on price rise once FM Sitharaman recovers from COVID-19

Sonia Gandhi to appear before ED July 21, Wednesday in National Herald case

 New Delhi

"Rahul Gandhi's political life has been spent disrespecting parliamentary traditions. Now he is dedicating himself to ensuring that parliamentary proceedings and debates do not take place," Union Minister and Amethi MP, Smriti Irani said accusing Rahul of leading the game plan to disrupt parliamentary proceedings 

The central government has asserted that it is ready for a debate in Parliament on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from COVID-19.

Three ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Smriti Irani lashed out at the opposition parties as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha saw little transactions for the third straight day in the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament due to their protests on the issues of price rise and the imposition of GST on re-packaged and labelled food items.

FM Sitharaman will reply to the debate on the matter related to price rise and asserted that the government is willing for the discussion as demanded by the opposition once she recovers and is back in Parliament.

"The Congress has a destructive attitude towards democracy. It was exposed from Jairam Ramesh's tweet that the Congress was successful in not allowing the House to function," Goyal, who is the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, told reporters outside parliament.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Congress is not interested in a constructive debate but in "destructive damage".

He said the opposition should follow the procedure for having the debate. The Rajya Sabha Chairperson and the Lok Sabha Speaker have also expressed their readiness for the discussion but the opposition should follow the norms, he said.

Smriti Irani hit out on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"As an Amethi MP between 2004 and 2019, he never posed any questions in Parliament and when he "abandoned" the constituency and became the MP of Wayanad, his attendance in Lok Sabha was less than 40 per cent in the winter session in 2019, Irani said.

He has also never proposed any private member's bill, she added. Irani had defeated Gandhi in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Goyal pointed out that the ministers of the Congress-ruled states were part of the GST council, which gave the nod for the levy.

Citing the results of local elections in Madhya Pradesh and other states which all, the BJP has trounced its rivals, Piyush Goyal said these show on whose side the people of India stood.