Leaders of the Left front, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party and other parties on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil to demand immediate convening of the monsoon session of Parliament, accusing the government of 'concealing' information regarding the Indo-United States nuclear deal.
Charging the ruling coalition with subverting the Constitution by deciding to do away with the monsoon session and convening a combined session, the leaders said the United Progressive Alliance government was accountable and answerable to the people on various counts.
Winter session of Parliament to commence in October
In a memorandum submitted to the President, they said while several assurances given in Parliament by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the nuclear issue had been violated, crucial information had been 'concealed'.
The leaders also alleged that the government had failed to check burgeoning prices or the communal situation in Orissa and wanted it to convene the Parliament session for discussions on these issues.
The leaders who met the President included Sitaram Yechury and Basudeb Acharya (Communist Party of India Marxist), D Raja and Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India), Rajesh Verma and Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), K Yerrannaidu and M Reddy (Telugu Desam Party), Danish Ali (Janata Dal - Secular), Abani Roy and Joachim Baxla (Revolutionary Socialist Party) and Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc).
Embarrassing revelations on the deal
Expressing their 'strong protest' against the decision of the government to 'jettison' the monsoon session of the Parliament, the leaders told the President that it was a 'deliberate manipulation of established traditions concerning the sessions of Parliament since Independence'.
"The Parliament and the people are being deprived of their fundamental right to make the government accountable and answerable," the leaders said.
The leaders of the seven parties also requested the President to exercise her constitutional power to ask the government to convene the session of Parliament immediately.
