'It is a record,' says Prahlad Joshi as Lok Sabha debates from afternoon to midnight

New Delhi: The Parliament on Thursday with nearly 100 members participated in a marathon discussion which ended two minutes short of midnight. The debate was about the Indian Railways and demands for grants for the Railway Ministry.

The Lok Sabha sat till 11:58 pm. "It is for the first time in nearly 18 years that the Lower House (Lok Sabha) sat for this long," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said after the session concluded.

"It is a record," Joshi added.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to reply to the debate on Friday afternoon, following which the demands for grants for the Railway Ministry will be put to vote.

During the debate, the Opposition accused the Modi government of trying to sell off assets belonging to the Indian Railways, instead of focusing on services. The Opposition kept alleging that the government is trying to "privatise" the railways, and claimed that the government is "selling dreams" like that of the "bullet train" to the people.

Countering the opposition's allegations, BJP lawmaker Sunil Kumar Singh highlighted that the performance of the Indian Railways is significantly better now than what it was under the Congress-led UPA government.

He mentioned the work done in the last five years by the BJP-led NDA government and said that the railways has been achieving new milestones on a regular basis.