'Cong weakened Parliamentary system'

Agencies

New Delhi: Terming the 14th Lok Sabha as a session which witnessed the lowest number of sittings and working hours, the CPI(M) on Wednesday blamed the Congress for "weakening the Parliamentary system".

"Though all parties are responsible for not allowing the 14th Lok Sabha to have adequate sittings and working hours, Congress as the ruling party is mainly responsible for this," CPI(M) Parliamentary party leader Sitaram Yechury said.

"If the 14th Lok Sabha can be summed up in one line, we would call it 'Chaudahvi Ka Chand' as it witnessed the lowest number of sittings in the entire history of our democracy," he said.

Such few sittings were not witnessed in either the 12th or the 13th sessions of the Lok Sabha, he said. The CPI(M) leader said the legislature "acts as a check on the executive and the sovereignty of the Constitution is exercised through legislature... Now if this is curtailed then the very essence of the Constitution is undermined".

Though a number of issues were to be discussed during the current session, like the vote on account and the interim budget, along with his party's opinion on a structured debate on the economic meltdown, attempts were made to reduce the session's time and scuttle debates, Yechury claimed.