 "Govt trying to find excuses to curtail Parliament Session, alleges Congress")
The Congress on Saturday alleged that the government was trying to find an "excuse" to curtail the Monsoon session of Parliament after "obstructing" its functioning by not agreeing to a discussion on the Pegasus issue and refusing to answer whether it has bought the Israeli spyware to snoop on people.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi blamed the government for the current deadlock in Parliament and alleged it was trying to avoid answering pertinent questions raised by the opposition.
"My straight charge is that the government has stopped the session and the government is now possibly thinking of curtailing a stopped session. So, you can draw your own conclusion," he told reporters.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have failed to transact any significant business, except passage of some bills, amid continued protests by opposition parties over the Pegasus and farmers' issues since the Monsoon session of Parliament commenced on July 19.
The session is scheduled to conclude on August 13.
Singhvi alleged that the government made sure that parliament does not function for nine or 10 days is now finding "the first fault as an excuse to do the second fault, namely curtail it".
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"Look at your obstinacy, you mulish, stony obstinacy, that you will not agree to a discussion on the most important issue - Pegasus," he said, adding that the government has been saying that it will discuss it outside Parliament.
"You are obstructing and you are now using the existing obstruction for 9-10 days as an excuse to wind up (the session)," Singhvi alleged.
The Congress leader said the government has not answered the basic question of whether it has directly or indirectly in any form and manner through a government agency acquired Pegasus.
"The answer has to be 'Yes of No'. You are welcome to say, 'No'. Why don't you say it? Everything else you are saying, but not saying 'Yes or No'.
"The second question is if you did acquire it? Did you use it against persons and if yes, show their names...but there is no answer," he said.
The opposition is demanding that the government agree to a discussion in Parliament on Pegasus snooping row and farmers' protests, besides other issues. It also wants the Prime Minister or the Home Minister to be present during the discussion.
The government, however, is terming the snooping controversy as a non-issue and accusing the opposition of unnecessarily raking it up to disrupt proceedings in Parliament.