Session agenda at appropriate time as per established practice, says parl affairs minister Joshi

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday alleged Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was trying to 'politicise' functioning of Parliament by 'creating unnecessary controversy' over the forthcoming special session.

Joshi's allegations came in a letter to Gandhi after she wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the agenda of the session was not known.

"Our government is always ready to discuss any issue. All issues which you mentioned were raised during the discussion on the no-confidence motion in the monsoon session, shortly before and the government responded to them," Joshi said in a letter to Gandhi.


On the agenda of the special session, Joshi said that it would "be circulated at the appropriate time as per established practice. Irrespective of which party is in government, till date the agenda has never been circulated in advance at the time of convening the Parliament," Joshi said.

When special sessions of Parliament were held earlier - to commemorate the 40th and 50th anniversary of Independence, joint sitting of Houses to pass Pota, or recently for introducing GST - the respective governments had conveyed the agenda to Opposition leaders in advance.

Joshi, however, alleged, "it is very unfortunate that you are trying to politicise the functioning of Parliament, our temple of democracy, and create unnecessary controversy." The session has been convened after following all established procedures. Political parties are never consulted in advance, Joshi said.

The parliamentary affairs minister said he had confidence that the dignity of Parliament would be maintained, and it would not be used for political disputes, he said. "I look forward to your full cooperation in running the upcoming session smoothly resulting in meaningful results in the national interest," he said.

The special session of Parliament is scheduled from September 18 to September 22.