NEW DELHI: Amid a war of words between BJP and Congress over the delay in convening the winter session of Parliament , parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar on Tuesday said government would call the session in December. The party also denounced Congress for making it appear like the session was being delayed for the first time.

"Delay has happened on several occasions and on two occasions, the session took place after Christmas," Kumar said. However, the government is yet to finalise the dates for the sitting.

The minister said the Opposition party was suffering from 'selective amnesia' as the winter session was held in December in 2008 and 2013 as well.

Senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterated the party's stand that assembly polls often played a role in the timing of sessions and said Congress governments, including the UPA, had done so in the past. "It has been an established tradition to schedule a session so that its timing does not clash with state polls. It also happened when Indira Gandhi and Chandrashekhar were PMs," he said.

Claiming that the winter session had twice started after Christmas in the past, Prasad said Congress had accepted defeat in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and was looking for an excuse.

Referring to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's comment that PM Modi was "Brahma, the creator", who controlled everything and alone knew when the winter session would be convened,

Prasad said Modi was the 'pradhan sevak' (prime servant). He said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was raising the issue in his campaign in Gujarat and had done so in UP assembly polls too but lost badly while BJP won 75% of seats.

"The accusations of Congress leaders are a chorus of baseless allegations," he added.

Prasad said Congress leaders had no moral right to question the delay as they has disrespected Parliament by stalling it frequently in the recent past. "The government wanted debate on demonetisation and other issues like GST and surgical strikes. While Congress boycotted Parliament when government agreed for a debate on demonetisation, Rahul Gandhi had sough proof of surgical strikes," he said.

The winter session generally starts from November's third week but the government has delayed it on account of the two-phased Gujarat assembly polls on December 9 and 12.



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