Centre “strangulated democracy”, alleges Congress MP Gohil ahead of Parliament special session

New Delhi [India], September 5 (ANI): Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil on Tuesday alleged that the Central Government “strangulated democracy” by not keeping Zero Hour and Question Hour during the Parliament special session which is scheduled to be held from September 18-21.
Earlier sources suggested that there will likely be no Question Hour, Zero Hour and no Private Member Business bill during the five-day ‘special session’ of Parliament.
Congress MP Gohil said, "Parliament's 5-day session is about to begin. Our rules have provisions for Zero Hour, Question Hour and Private Member Business. Members have the right to raise the issue of people in Parliament during the Zero Hour, Question Hour and Private Member Business.”
“There are a lot of issues. When will we raise that? By not keeping Zero Hour, Question Hour and Private Member Business, Govt has strangulated democracy. We are against this,” MP Gohil said.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also hit out at the Centre and said that this government is not transparent and responsible towards the country.
"Special session of Parliament has been called from September 18 but BJP itself is not able to tell what is the agenda of the session. This government is not transparent and responsible towards the country. BJP is not able to clear what will be the agenda for the session. Our principle is that there should be discussion in the House on the important issues of the country. Congress Party is ready to discuss and give suggestions on these issues," he said. 
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the upcoming session of Parliament was called to divert the attention from the INDIA meeting in Mumbai and further attacked the BJP by mentioning that they won't listen to 'Modi Chalisa' for 5 days. 
Speaking on the special session of Parliament, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said, "Our discussion revolved around the 5-day special Session - what should be our issues, what should be the issues of the people and what are the issues that the country is facing today.”
“We have shortlisted all these issues. Floor leaders of INDIA parties will have a meeting at the residence of Mallikarjun Kharge. All of these issues will be kept before him after the same is finalised there we will raise those issues at the 5-day session,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress held a Parliamentary strategy group meeting at the residence of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.  
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday informed about the five-day special session of Parliament from September 18-22. The agenda for the special session, however, was not revealed yet.
The Centre on Saturday constituted an eight-member committee to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.
The members of the committee, apart from former President Kovind, include Union Home Minister Amit Shah; Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad; former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament, which concluded last month, was held in the old Parliament building. The announcement of the Special Session came as a surprise in political circles with the parties gearing up for assembly polls in five states later this year. (ANI)