It was opposition's premeditated plan to disrupt Parliament: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who is also the leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, has slammed the opposition for stalling Parliament during the monsoon session and said it could have got “much more mileage” by presenting dissent through debate and discussion in the House.
Describing the session as a washout, he blamed the opposition for a premeditated plan to disrupt proceedings. “If you recall a senior leader of the principal opposition party at the highest level has been consistently saying from day one that this session should be a washout, possibly with some sort of a sadistic pleasure in getting a washout of a session. Another leader, of another very large party, probably the second largest in the House, had very categorically informed us that this session is gone till the 13th August. You can write it. So, I think the mind was made up. The mindset was to disrupt this house. It was not about a particular discussion or another,” he said during Times Now India@75: The Freedom Summit.
While arguing that BJP leaders, led by defence minister Rajnath Singh, had reached out to opposition parties, the other side did not respond positively. Describing the recent disruptions as unprecedented, Goyal said, “…this time around, the opposition has exceeded all limits of tolerance. We have also been very tolerant. The honourable chairman, deputy chairman, Speaker have been more than indulgent to tolerate.”
He then demanded strict action against some of the members. “…there needs to be deterrence... Maybe even stricter deterrence. We are grateful to the honourable Supreme Court for the very strong judgement and strictures in the Kerala assembly matter. And I do believe that this time around, some of the members will have to suffer the consequences of their actions.”