No talk of special session unless govt changes mindset: Congress

Accusing the BJP-led government of being in a "perpetual mode of confrontation", Congress on Monday said that talk of a special session of Parliament was "not going to be viable" unless there was a change in its mindset. Even as the Centre has announced that the controversial land Ordinance, a bone of contention with the Opposition, would not be re-promulgated, Congress said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the nation as he has "wasted 10 months of development" by enacting the Ordinance.

The party also warned the prime minister against using agencies of the government to target the opposition and hoped that details of such alleged "abuse" would tumble out soon. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, senior party spokesman Anand Sharma said that the opposition would not be cowed down by such tactics. Cases by CBI against former Congress chief ministers and ministers are "not accidental", he said without elaborating.

CBI recently filed cases against former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state PCC chief Sachin Pilot in an ambulance scam in which Karthi, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, too, is an accused.

On the land Bill, Sharma said, "Where was the PM's concern for farmers when his government enacted the Ordinance to change UPA Land Act not one, not two, but three times."

Talking about the prospects of a special session of Parliament, he squarely blamed the government for "not engaging with the opposition in any constructive manner nor giving any meaningful proposals to end the deadlock".

"Even now, the government's attitude is one of confrontation... It is in a perpetual mode of confrontation", he said, adding that unless there was a change of mindset, talk of a special session was "not going to be viable".

Congress has been demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the wake of the Lalit Modi controversy and that of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan over the Vyapam scam in his state.

The government had on August 25 hinted at a plan to reconvene the Monsoon Session of Parliament and began consultations with political parties seeking their cooperation in passing key reform measures in the "national interest". Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu had met Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and said the government was looking forward to passing the GST Bill "at the earliest" and has an "open mind" on amendments to the key reform measure, which it plans to roll out from April next year.

The party, in the latest issue of its mouthpiece, 'Congress Sandesh', also attacked the government for having become "heady".

"Having become heady (sic) due to the brute force of numbers in the Lok Sabha, it is not willing to look into the chinks in its armour and ask some important functionaries spread over the country to step down for having carried out acts of misdemeanour," it said in an editorial piece. It said that the government merely says it is willing to debate "so long as you agree that our leaders have done no wrong and raise your hands in our favour when asked".

Targeting the BJP and the government, it charged that they have established that they have two sets of standards, one for themselves and the other for those opposed to them.

"The GST Bill, which is being touted as the greatest game changer, was not allowed to go through five years back due to BJP. Just imagine how much ground could have been covered for the people in this time," the editorial piece added.​