NITI Aayog 'undermines' cooperative federalism: Congress

NEW DELHI: Slamming the Centre for scrapping the Planning Commission, the Congress today said the new NITI Aayog "undermines" the concept of "cooperative federalism".

Congress leader Anand Sharma said the Planning Commission used to mediate between the Centre and the state over various issues and kept an effective check and balance.

"Now everything will be tested in the Finance Ministry. What new vision will come out of it? We are fundamentally opposed to it," he said.

Lashing out at the BJP for coming out with ordinances and not taking the Parliament route, Sharma said it reflected the "hypocrisy" and "double standards" of the BJP.

"When the BJP was in opposition, they were opposed to the thought of bringing an ordinance even on Food Security (Bill) and now there is a flurry of ordinances, which actually is insulting and undermining the Parliament and parliamentary democracy.

"Our Constitution is very clear that there is a provision of ordinance when there is a national necessity or urgency. Now, there is no urgency," the Congress leader said.

Sharma also accused the government of "subverting" the established processes and not referring the Bills to the standing committees of both the houses.

"This government clearly has a mindset of its own. It wants to subvert the parliamentary processes. The convention and established practice is that bills are referred to the standing committee of both the houses. The standing committee scrutinises and makes its recommendations.

"In Lok Sabha, the government is not referring the Bill to the standing committee and in Rajya Sabha, we want to uphold the established conventions and practices of parliamentary scrutiny of legislation," the deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said.

"The government accuses the opposition of being an obstructionist, which we are not. It again speaks of their arrogance. They don't want the Parliament to scrutinise the Bills," he said.