Sonia Gandhi writes to President on Winter Session delay

New Delhi: After the Congress president Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘sabotaging the winter session of parliament’, the Congress on Thursday approached the President of India.

The Congress Parliamentary party has written to the President claiming that not convening the Parliament session on time would set an “unhealthy precedent”.

The letter was signed by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party’s deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, its chief whip in the Lower House Jyotiraditya Scindia and whip Deependra Hooda.

The Congress alleged that the government was running away from parliament as it did not want to face the opposition in house because of its “flawed and unpopular” policies and “rampant corruption”.

The letter said, “We seek to draw your attention to the inordinate delay by the government in convening the Winter Session of Parliament without ascribing any justification for doing so.”

Citing the example of 2012, when the last Gujarat assembly elections were held the Congress said when the 2012 Assembly polls in the state were held on December 13 and December 17.

The Parliament session, however, was duly convened on November 22 “as per practice” and adjourned on December 20 of that year.

The letter further stated that, “It is also pertinent to mention, that Winter Session is preceded by the longest inter-session break after the Monsoon Session vis-a-vis all other inter-session breaks. Thus, not convening of Winter Session on time will set an unhealthy precedent.”