Logjam over National Herald case continues; Congress lawmakers create ruckus

Congress spokesperson declared that they will disrupt court proceedings too if judiciary continues to show its arrogance. A government panel, headed by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, on December 5 accepted the demand for dropping the one per cent additional tax and a cap of only 15 per cent on GST rate.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who had set the red lines outlined by the Congress, said the Congress was yet to receive any official copy of the revised formulations from the government on the GST Bill. “I will continue to fight corruption”, he said. Now, when the Prime Minister called the Congress leaders, Mrs. Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh visited him, and they discussed the matter. He alleged that the Congress leadership was guilty of commercially exploiting prime land – allocated to the paper for commercial purposes – after the paper was shut down.

He termed the Congress disruptions in Parliament over the Herald case and its claim that the Gandhis were a victim of political vendetta a “Goebbelsian propaganda”. They have used tax-exempted income for a non-exempted objective.

With Congress party politicians forcing the session to be adjourned in the upper house by shouting slogans on Wednesday, shares of logistics companies took a hit.

“Perception against you could be wrong (that you are not letting the house function because of the National Herald case), but if you want to correct it, let the coming Monday be a good day, a working day”, he said in the Rajya Sabha replying to Azad’s charges.

As the government accused the Congress of bringing its legal battle to Parliament, party spokesperson Anand Sharma said they had no issues with the court case and will file their responses, but were protesting due to the attitude of the government which believes in revenge.

There are issues on which Parliament functions is unanimous and on others it differs. “In this case, what step has the government of India taken for which Parliament can be obstructed”, he asked. “They have a bill today in the parliament, but think it is a flawed bill, we have pointed out the flaws”. “They rubbished it, said it can not be done…it’s completely nonsense”.

Several Congress members trooped into the Well of the House shouting anti-government slogans like “Modi teri tanashahi nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (Dictatorship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be tolerated)” and “Hitlershahi nahi chalegi (Hitler-like attitude will not be tolerated)”.

On the other hand, the BJP leaders are restraining themselves even in their attack on the Congress. Pushed to the wall over the stalling of Parliament proceedings by the Congress MPs, the Union ministers are seen refuting the allegations being levelled at the ruling party.