Govt appeals to Oppn to let House function

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 2

After another washed-out week, the government today appealed to Opposition parties to allow Parliament to function next week to enable discussion and passage of crucial Bills related to “public importance”.

“It is the duty of the Opposition to take up the matter of public importance,” Union Minister Ananth Kumar said, while sources in the Opposition indicated no signs of thaw in the deadlock over demonetisation for “at least till the first week of December”.

Dismissing the Opposition’s demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should “apologise” for his remarks on black money, the minister said the “PM never took the name of any political party” when he spoke outside Parliament earlier this week.

“The country and people are unable to understand the point they (Opposition parties) are trying to make by stalling Parliament. If you want to highlight faults and holes in demonetisation, the House is the best forum to do so,” Kumar said, accusing the Opposition, especially the Congress, of obstructing debate on the issue by “shifting the goal post continuously”.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties are slated to meet on Monday to decide the strategy for the next week.