Looking Forward to a Productive Winter Session: PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed hope that the Winter Session of Parliament beginning Friday morning will be productively utilised to debate issues concerning the country.

“We look forward to healthy debates and the time of the House should be productively utilized,” Modi told reporters on his arrival at the Parliament House.

The government is expected to table 25 pending bills and 14 new ones, including a bill providing Muslim women the right to seek maintenance in case of triple talaq, during the Winter Session.

The Prime Minister’s statement is being seen as a response to spillover effect of a bitterly contested Gujarat Assembly elections 2017. The PM in one of the elections rallies referred to the dinner reception at Mani Shankar Aiyar’s residence in which he alluded that there was a conspiracy by the Congress ahead of Gujarat polls.

Former PM Manmohan Singh who was one of the invitees to the reception had strongly objected to Modi’s statement and the Congress now plans to raise the issue in Parliament seeking apology from the PM.

In the customary statement ahead of the Winter Session, PM Modi undescored the impact of climate change due to global warming. “Generally the winter sets in after Diwali. Even at the onset of the Winter Session it isn’t as cold as it generally used to be at this time of the year,” he said.

The PM said at Thursday’s all-party meeting, leaders of the political parties were clear that there is aneed to take the country forward and this session should be used positively to achieve that.