Ahead of Budget Session, BJP leaders meet as Oppn seeks to corner govt

Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders met at Union minister Rajnath Singh’s residence on Wednesday to discuss the strategy for parliament’s Budget Session from January 29. The party is preparing to face a belligerent Opposition seeking to corner the government on the farm laws, the Chinese aggression and the leaked WhatsApp messages of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair an all-party meeting virtually on January 30. The Opposition’s demands and the government’s legislative plans for the session are expected to be discussed at the meeting. All party meetings are customary affairs before every parliament session.

A BJP functionary said the Opposition will raise the issue of protests against the three farm laws passed in September even as the government has maintained repeatedly that they benefit the farmers and that the provisions of the legislation were suggested by several parties including the Congress.

“The Congress has been misleading the farmers by alleging that the laws will benefit cooperates but the truth is that they themselves had made similar suggestions such as abolishing the APMC [Agricultural Produce Market Committee] Act when they were in power,” said the functionary, who did not want to be named.

Union ministers S Jaishankar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Pralhad Joshi, and Thawar Chand Gehlot were among others who attended the meeting.

The Congress has said it will raise the issue of Goswami’s chats during the session. The opposition has suggested the leaked messages point to collusion and leak of classified security information. The Congress has accused Modi and top ministers of violating the Official Secrets Act and demanded a probe and action against those who allegedly leaked sensitive information to Goswami.