Parliament’s Monsoon Session, therefore, saw a fair degree of opposition solidarity.
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Sushma Swaraj, who spoke amid constant sloganeering by Congress members, said she had not helped Lalit Modi but his ailing wife who was to undergo a medical procedure for cancer treatment in Portugal. The party plans to take out rallies across the country, particularly targeting the constituencies of Congress and Left MPs to highlight their “obstructionist attitude” and “negative politics”.
An uncompromising Congress led by a suddenly combative Rahul Gandhi, and an Opposition that refused to be breached, forced the Modi government into opposition mode.
The window of opportunity for Modi is slowly getting reduced.
“Congress is using Swaraj only as an excuse to block the GST Bill”, Jaitley said.
No sooner after the houses were adjourned, leaders of the BJP and its allies took out a “Save Democracy” march to denounce what they called was a Congress-induced parliament logjam.
“They did everything except answer the crucial questions that arose out of Sushma Swaraj’s intervention on behalf of Lalit Modi“, he said.
The acrimonious debate in the Lok Sabha saw Rahul Gandhi accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lacking guts to face the house over the charges against his minister.
Former IPL chief Lalit Modi said he has not got any Enforcement Directorate summons, and also denied meeting Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi or his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Sngh Yadav for his “effort to break logjam”, while taking a dig at those who are “misusing Parliament to stop the pace of country’s growth”.
On the One-Rank, One-Pension policy, over which Modi in-principle agreed but failed in making a formal announcement, Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “The OROP row represents perhaps the greatest betrayal of this government”.
The government has been forced to abandon the Land Acquisition Bill till Bihar elections and GST passage also depends on how soon it can reach an understanding with the Congress. “And at the same time, you help him in the ministry”.
Responding to the allegations of Rahul’s charge that nothing is being done to bring back black money stashed overseas, Jaitley said “we have taken some hard steps”. She also refrred to Bofors scam and undue favours extended by former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambram to his wife.
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In an interview to India Today TV, Modi did a U-turn from his tweets in July when he alleged that Rahul Gandhi and his brother-in-law Robert Vadra were beneficiaries of his hospitality during his tenure as Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner.
