Jayant Sinha declines direct comment on father's meeting with Mamata Banerjee

Union minister Jayant Sinha today declined a direct comment on his father and rebel BJP leader Yashwant Sinha meeting West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is trying to bring anti-BJP parties on one platform.

Asked to comment on his father meeting Mamata Banerjee in Delhi, Sinha told reporters: "Unka prashn unse puchiye aur mera prashn mujhse" (Ask his question to him and mine to me).

Without taking anybody's name, he said "everybody is free to put across one's views." Yashwant Sinha, who held the finance portfolio in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, met TMC supremo in the national capital yesterday along with disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and former Union minister Arun Shourie.

Mamata Banerjee during the course of her stay in Delhi met prominent opposition leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and a host of leaders from the Shiv Sena, the RJD and the TDP in a bid to build up a strong opposition to the BJP for the 2019 general elections.

Jayant Sinha has replaced his father as Lok Sabha member from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand and is presently serving as the minister of state for civil aviation in the Narendra Modi government.

He condemned the opposition's strategy to stall Parliament, saying it was affecting the country and obstructing passage of important bills.

"For the last several weeks no work was done in Parliament due to opposition's disruption. It is sad that the House, the country's Panchayat, and we are coming from far-off places to serve the country, is unable to function due to disruption, Jayant Sinha said at a press conference here.

We condemn this. The ruling party is ready to debate any topic, be it the no-confidence motion or the situation of public sector banks or the issue of Musul in Iraq. But we are unable to debate these topics following the situations made in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha by the opposition, he added.

Stating that Parliament has a dignity and a tradition, Sinha said rules and regulations were being damaged.

The country's work, especially passing of important bills, which are necessary for the country, we are unable to pass them, he added.

What the opposition is doing is affecting the country and the effort to take the development work forward, he said adding that the opposition was also losing credibility.

We hear from people during our interaction that the opposition's strategy is harmful for the country, Jayant Sinha said, expressing concern that if the all-important budget session is being disrupted then what would happen to the monsoon and winter sessions when the elections would be nearer.

So people are disappointed, he said.

Sinha said through media they were asking the opposition to stop this situation so that we can work for the country and work in the interest of people .