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The BJP on Tuesday blamed the Congress for the impasse in Parliament and dubbed it “anti-democratic”, claiming that the party continues to have contempt for democracy as it had during the Emergency.

Briefing reporters on the BJP parliamentary party meeting, which was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government has been talking to different parties to break the deadlock in Parliament and targeted the Congress.

In the meeting, Mr. Kumar had spoken to BJP parliamentarians about continuing deadlock in Parliament, whose second phase of the Budget Session has been a washout so far.

He said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi spoke on democracy outside the Parliament but don’t practise it. Mr. Kumar noted that the BJP has issued a whip to its members asking them to ensure their presence in Parliament for three days for passage of important bills.

He also made light of Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s invite to Opposition parties for a dinner, saying her dinner politics will be only about dinner while the BJP under Mr. Modi remains a “winner” with the ruling NDA attracting more allies.

Mr. Kumar cited the BJP’s alliance with local parties in Northeast States to claim that the NDA is becoming “NDA plus”. The Congress is becoming more and more isolated, he said.

He then raked up the excesses during the Emergency declared across the country by the then Indira Gandhi government in mid 70’s and accused the Congress of harbouring a similar mindset.

The Congress had imposed censors, extended Parliament’s tenure to six years from five years and put Opposition leaders in jails during the period, he said.

“It continues to have a similar repressive mindset toward democracy. The Congress is not letting Parliament function. This is our duty to let it work and the government has been doing everything to ensure that it happens,” he said.

He claimed that the Congress was running away from a debate on the PNB scam as it “feared” that many skeletons in its cupboard will tumble out if a debate took place.

The proceedings of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday morning were disrupted for the seventh consecutive day on March 13 as various parties continued with their protests on several issues, including the Punjab National Bank fraud.