Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has blamed what he called the Congress' "small and petty interests" for disruptions today during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement in Parliament on the Gurdaspur terror attack and said the opposition party's leadership has "failed the test".
"We expect Congress President Sonia Gandhi to respond why the Congress didn't allow a discussion on the Gurdaspur terror attack," Mr Jaitley said, criticising the Congress for "presenting the country as a divided house" on a day that all political parties should have stood together.
"At least they should have spoken in one voice on an issue like national security. We expect the Congress will once again review its negative and irresponsible behaviour," the Finance Minister said.
As Rajnath Singh told Parliament in his statement today that the terror attack in Punjab on Monday came from Pakistan, he could barely be heard over the noise created by Congress lawmakers, who shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The Congress has spent two weeks in it's somewhat symbolic protest, it is time for Parliament to function," Mr Jaitley also said.
The Congress's Anand Sharma retorted, "The House has spoken in one voice in condemning terrorism and the terrorist attack in Gurdaspur... It would have been advisable to have a consensus on a discussion."
The Congress has disrupted proceedings since the monsoon session began vowing not to relent till top BJP ministers caught in controversies are removed. The government has made clear that their will be no resignations, leading to a deadlock, with little work done in the session.
At an all party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today the government reportedly said it would call a meeting of all opposition leaders to discuss their various concerns.