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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today voiced hope that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be fruitful and that promises made by "some political parties" during the last session to allow work on priority will be kept.
Underlining that the all-party meeting yesterday was held in a "good atmposphere", he said the government's effort has always been to take collective decisions to push the country ahead in the path of development.
"In the last session, some political parties had given the assurance that in the next session, some work will be done on priority. I am hopeful that good decisions and more decisions will be taken in this session," he told reporters in the Parliament complex on the first day of the Monsoon Session.
Modi thanked the MPs for their support during the Budget Session and hoped that all parliamentarians will contribute towards good quality debates and support the business and proceedings.
But the opposition lead by the Congress seem to be in no mood to relent. The party has moved a motion in the Rajya Sabha seeking to set aside normal business to discuss the Lalit Modi controversy. The government responded back by saying that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj is ready to respond to the opposition's charges. The house has been adjourned twice and will now reconvene at 2:00 pm.
Leader of the House, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later said, "All Opposition wants is to not let the session run. They only want disturbance, not discussion. We offered to adjourn the session until after lunch."
Setting the stage for confrontation in Parliament, an all-party meeting called here yesterday had ended in a deadlock over controversies related to Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as the Prime Minister offered to discuss all issues.
The Prime Minister chose the occasion to remind parties that smooth running of Parliament is a "shared responsibility" though the government has to take initiative for it.
He appealed to them to utilise Parliament time for discussing all issues.
While Congress has made it clear that it will not allow Parliament to function unless BJP leaders facing allegations quit, the government has asserted that there will be no resignations and that it will not give in to any ultimatum.
