'Karwa Chauth' session?

NEW DELHI: Questioning the status, timing and schedule of the parliament session that began on Friday, leader of opposition and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani demanded the rescheduling of the session and dates of its sittings.

The party also questioned the session’s nomenclature as the second phase of the July session when the government sought the confidence vote.

“Advaniji said it is an extension of the last session. I call it the Karwa Chauth session,” BJP’s Sushma Swaraj said.

Accusing the government of making parliament redundant, she said this was the first time when the monsoon session had been dropped after the government kept announcing different dates for it.

“The dates of the sittings are such that MPs simply won’t be able to attend parliament,” Swaraj said.

“The session never starts on a Friday, and this Friday is also the day of Karwa Chauth festival. The government has done this only to add three days to the session’s duration,” she alleged.

Besides, after the October 24 sitting, there will be a series of festivals till November 4 when the MPs would go to their constituencies to participate in celebrations with people, she said.

After this, the MPs and campaigners of political parties would get busy with campaigning for state assembly elections.

Swaraj accused the government of doing this deliberately to avoid debates.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net