Piyush Goyal said there is competition among opposition over who would disrupt proceedings. (File)
The government is not running away from debate on price rise and GST and the issues can be taken up in Parliament once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from COVID-19, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday and slammed the Congress for disrupting proceedings in the House.
"Congress has a destructive attitude towards democracy. It was exposed from Jairam Ramesh's tweet that Congress was successful in not allowing the House to function," Mr Goyal, who is the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, told reporters outside parliament.
He alleged there was a competition among opposition parties on who would disrupt parliament most.
For the third straight day, proceedings of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition parties continued with their vociferous protests demanding urgent discussions on issues of price rise and levying of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on certain daily use items.
Replying to queries from reporters outside parliament, Mr Goyal said that the government is not running away from debate.
The minister concerned Nirmala Sitharaman is suffering from COVID-19 and once she recovers, the debate on price rise and GST can take place, he said.
The Opposition is demanding the rollback of five per cent GST that has kicked in on pre-packaged and labelled food items such as cereals, pulses and flour weighing less than 25 kg. For a commodity measured in litres like curd and 'lassi, the limit is 25 litres. Mr Goyal pointed out that the ministers of the Congress-ruled states were part of the GST council, which gave the nod for the levy.
Citing the results of local elections in Madhya Pradesh and other states, Mr Goyal said they show on whose side the people are.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)