 "'Govt didn't talk to Congress CMs'")
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman criticised Congress President Sonia Gandhi for not standing with the government on an issue of national security like the Naga accord. Sitharaman disputed a claim by the Congress chief that the government did not consult chief ministers of Congress-ruled Northeastern states before signing an agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM).
Gandhi on Thursday said the voices of the three states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are being "suppressed".
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Talking to reporters in the Parliament complex, the Congress president said when she called her party's chief ministers in the three states, who are directly affected by the Naga accord, she found that they were "totally blank" on the issue.
"Nobody has even bothered to brief them, perhaps not in detail, but in a wide sense. After all, our chief ministers are directly affected, be it Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh or Assam. So, what do I take from this? From this I take that this government is arrogant.
"This government keeps on saying that everybody has to be taken along and that they will hold consultations with all, will take the views of all chief ministers. Then what happened? Their arrogance is now even more clear than before.
"And it is an insult not only to the chief ministers, but to the people of these states and to the federal structure of our country," she said.
The government had on August 3 signed an accord with key outfit NSCN(IM), which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described as a "historic" step to usher in peace in the state.
Talking to reporters, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi noted that what Congress President said was perhaps the most important issue.
"Our voice is being suppressed in Parliament. The Congress president has said that the voices of three states - Manipur Assam and Arunachal - are being suppressed. It's an insult to the people of these three states that their CMs have not been advised.
"It's an insult to every single citizen in these three states and it's an insult to the people of India the way this government does work," he said.
Refuting the charges Sitharaman said, "We reject this. Congress CMs were called for consultations but chose to boycott the meeting."
The minister said it was unfortunate that the Congress leadership had asked its Arunachal Pradesh CM Nabam Tuki, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and its Arunachal MP Ninong Ering to take back their words welcoming the accord. Ering was even asked to delete his tweet where he had termed the agreement as "historic".
Sitharaman said Congress CMs were invited to the NITI Aayog meeting on the land Bill but chose to boycott it. The minister accused the Congress for scuttling measures like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a cause it had earlier championed.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha passed two Bills - one related to repeal of 295 obsolete laws, while the other was an amendment to the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act provide for filing of cheque bounce cases at the place where a cheque is presented for clearance and not the place of issue. This will have implications for over 1,800,000 cheque bounce cases pending in various courts, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said.
The Rajya Sabha repeatedly disrupted and couldn't transact any business.