Tag : debate

New Delhi: The government is ready for a debate in Parliament on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from COVID-19, the BJP asserted on Wednesday and targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying he may be "unproductive politically" but should not hurt the legislature's productivity. Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Smriti Irani hit out at opposition parties as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha saw little transactions for the third straight day due to their protests on the issues of price rise and the imposition of GST on many pre-packaged and labelled food items. Both Goyal and Joshi noted that it is Sitharaman who will reply to a debate on the matter and asserted that the government is willing for the discussion as demanded by the opposition once she recovers and is back in Parliament. They refuted the opposition's charge that the government is running away from a debate and attacked the Congress, the largest opposition party. "The Congress has a destructive attitude towards democracy. It was exposed from Jairam Ramesh's tweet that the Congress was successful in not allowing the House to function," Goyal, who is the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, told reporters outside parliament. The government is not running away from any debate, he said. Joshi said the Congress is not interested in a constructive debate but in "destructive damage". He said the opposition should follow the procedure for having the debate. The Rajya Sabha Chairperson and the Lok Sabha Speaker have also expressed their readiness for the discussion but the opposition should follow the norms, he said. Earlier in the day, Irani launched a sharp attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his party members' vociferous ...