New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday is reported to have expressed disappointment at the absence of normal proceedings in Parliament’s Monsoon Session leading to the passage of several Bills without debate amid the Opposition’s protests. The session was adjourned sine die earlier in the day.Modi said that bright and young MPs of the Congress did not get to participate in discussions due to the “insecurity” of its leadership, speaking at the customary informal meeting of leaders from different parties in Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office. Opposition leaders kept away from the get-together. Sources added that Prime Minister did not name Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who is leading his party’s agitation against the Election Commission’s drive to revise electoral rolls in Bihar, but his remarks were apparently aimed at him. Modi singled out the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill banning real-money games, passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha without discussion due to the din, for praise and its wide positive implications due to the adverse impact on society by these online games.He said the Monsoon Session covered several important bills and regretted that they could not be discussed in Parliament, the sources said. With Opposition leaders skipping the meeting, someone in the get-together remarked that it had become increasingly difficult to bring the Congress on board. The Prime minister said the Opposition had some bright young MPs. They may be making the leadership “insecure”, he said, according to the sources. The Prime Minister has in the past publicly echoed a similar view, while criticising the Gandhi family for putting its own interest above anything else. Asked about the decision of Opposition parties to keep away from the meeting, Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju took a swipe at them saying their leaders might have been too “embarrassed” with their conduct during the session to attend the event.Senior BJP leaders and members of a few other parties, including those from the ruling alliance, attended the meeting. The minister said it is “rare” for Opposition leaders to boycott the meeting hosted by the Speaker over tea after the session concludes.
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