Competitive obstructionism between Congress, TMC in Parliament: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that Congress and Trinamool Congress were indulging in “competitive obstructionism”.
“It is now competitive obstructionism between the Congress and the Trinamool which is holding up the debate in Parliament,” Jaitley posted on Twitter.
As the Winter session entered its third week today, Parliament remained deadlocked and stalled due to stand-off between the Opposition and the government over demonetisation and how the debate should be held on it.
For the 13th consecutive day, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business due to the uproar created by the Opposition over demonetisation, even as the government expressed readiness to discuss the issue and listen to the views of members regarding “deficiencies” in its implementation so that these can be corrected.
The Lok Sabha could not function because of differences over the Rule under which a debate should be held while the Rajya Sabha was paralysed due to uproar by Opposition over cash crunch due to demonetisation.
In the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government was ready for a debate but it should be left to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to take a decision regarding the Rule under which the debate should be undertaken.
Singh, who spoke after Mallikarjun Kharge (Cong), Sudip Bandhyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Jithender Reddy (TRS) and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD), said it was clear that nobody was questioning the intent of the government over demonetisation even though some felt it was not done in a proper way.
He also said the Opposition was divided as parties like TRS and BJD wanted debate under Rule 193 which does not entail voting instead of Rule 184 which entails voting as demanded by parties like Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left.
Congress and Trinamool, however, maintained its demand that a debate should be held under Rule 184.
Besides demonetisation, TMC has been targeting the government over presence of Army at toll plazas in West Bengal.