Government to soon fix dates for winter session of Parliament

NEW DELHI: The government is not "running away" from Parliament and will soon take a decision on dates for its winter session, Union minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal today said.

Many MPs had requested that they want to focus on the upcoming Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Goyal said, responding to a question on delay in holding the winter session of Parliament.

"I don't think there is any such situation where we have to run away from facing Parliament. The government will soon take a decision on parliament dates," he said.

Earlier, the Congress had attacked the BJP-led NDA government for delaying the winter session and said the Centre was using state Assembly polls as an excuse to avoid facing Parliament.

The winter session of Parliament traditionally convenes from the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh decides the dates of the parliament sessions.

According to sources, the government is considering a truncated winter session of around 10 days starting from the second week of December.