Parliament's Winter Session likely to begin from December 15, say sources

Under fire from the Opposition for delaying the year-end session of Parliament, the Centre is likely to hold the Winter Session from December 15 to January 5, the government sources said on Thursday.

Without giving out the exact dates, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also said that the schedule of the Winter Session and the Assembly Elections won't overlap.

“We are going to ensure that a regular Winter Session is held but we will make sure that the Parliament session and (Assembly) election dates don't overlap,” Jaitley said while addressing media on the cabinet decisions.

The Opposition, especially the Congress has been attacking the government for delaying the Winter Session. The party says in view of the Gujarat Assembly Elections, the Centre is trying to evade discussion on issues the Opposition want to raise during Winter Session like scams of ministers, Rafale deal, GST and note ban.

In a cryptic tweet, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to 'open the Parliament.' He said, “the truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation.”

On Wednesday, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also took a swipe at PM Modi saying "he is Brahma, he is the creator" as it was only he who knew when the Winter Session of Parliament would be convened.