New Delhi, Nov 18 (Representative) Former union minister P. Chidambaram took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned if he would “ever participate” in debate in Parliament, a day after the PM stressed on the need for “quality” in debates. “Interesting to read that the PM stressed the need for ‘quality debates’ in Parliament. He also suggested setting a separate time for quality debates. The question is, will the PM ever participate in a debate in Parliament?” he said. BJP hit back, with party spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agrawal slammed the Opposition for disrupting parliament. “The Prime Minister always tells the MPs to participate in discussions, but the opposition creates ruckus.
You see, in winter session, the opposition will do that in this session also,” he said. Speaking at the inaugural session of 82nd All India Presiding Officers’ Conference in Shimla on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi stressed on the need for promoting quality debate. “Whatever we need to promote quality debate, we can do something innovative continuously… Can we even think of setting aside time for quality debate? Such a debate in which dignity, seriousness is fully followed, there is no political slur. In a way, it is the most healthy time of the house, a healthy day,” he said. The comments come ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament which will take place from November 29 to December 23. The Monsoon Session was washed out amid protests over a number of issues which saw the Opposition coming together. Both the government and opposition blamed each other for the washout.