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Congress MP KC Venugopal on Thursday accused the central government of deliberately stalling Parliamentary proceedings, asserting that the opposition has been ready for a debate "from day one" while the government has consistently avoided discussions on key issues, including allegations of donation theft and atrocities against students.
Speaking to reporters, Venugopal placed the blame for the ongoing parliamentary deadlock on the government, dismissing suggestions that the opposition was responsible for the impasse. "Everybody witnessing the Parliament knows about this, whether the Congress party or the BJP government is doing all these things. Because we are for discussion. From day one onwards, we are saying that we are open to discussion. Who is stopping the discussion? Government only. The government doesn't want any discussion. The agenda is to stop the discussion. For discussion on donation theft, discussion on atrocities against students, nothing they don't want. The Home Minister himself is not even coming; then the blame is on the opposition. Nowadays, people still understand everything," he said. Responding to reports that government ministers had reached out to opposition leaders to build consensus on upcoming legislation, including the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) Bill, Venugopal dismissed the exercise as insincere. "These are all eyewash. If they sincerely want Parliament, let them be ready for a discussion and debate," he said. Meanwhile, after chairing a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Venugopal said the panel examined audit reports highlighting delays and discrepancies in the disbursal of salaries, pensions and retirement benefits to armed forces personnel. "Today, the discussion was on the salaries, pensions, and retirement benefits of the armed forces. A lot of delays happened. Some discrepancies are also being pointed out by the audit. But the PAC thoroughly examined the audit report and asked for clarification from the Ministry of Defence," he said. Venugopal added that the committee had also taken up the state of military hospitals, describing conditions in some facilities as " not satisfactory". "Along with that, the situations in the military hospitals are also not satisfactory in some areas. These two major public policies are what we discussed in the past. We asked our questions to the Defence Ministry. Some of them are satisfactory, but most of them are not satisfactory. But we are continuing to do this," he said. His remarks come amid the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, which has witnessed repeated disruptions over opposition protests on several issues, including police action against student protesters at Jantar Mantar and demands for accountability from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Frequent protests have led to repeated adjournments of both Houses. (ANI)
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