Congress looks to bring Oppn on board to corner govt in House

The renewed effort for a joint Opposition floor coordination in Parliament is significant after the Congress’s drubbing in the five assembly elections last week

In the second half of the budget session starting Monday, the Congress will try to take along other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a coordinated floor management against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrives to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting after losses in the recent assembly elections in five states, at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. (PTI)

Congress president chaired a meeting of party’s strategy group on Parliament on Sunday. At the meeting, Gandhi maintained that better coordination was required among various Opposition parties to corner the ruling BJP over issues such as the “delay in the evacuation of students from Ukraine”, a leader familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.

The renewed effort for a joint Opposition floor coordination in Parliament is significant after the Congress’s drubbing in the five assembly elections last week. The party lost Punjab to the AAP while the BJP retained the four other states— Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who spoke after Gandhi, said efforts to take “all Opposition parties together is often difficult” as some parties such as the “TMC don’t come to meetings called by the Congress”. In the first half of the budget session, the TMC refused to join any strategy meeting called by the Congress in Parliament.

Kharge and a few other leaders suggested the name of party’s Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh to informally hold talks with the TMC and the AAP. While the AAP has only three members in the Rajya Sabha at present, it will get another seven members by July and turn into a major player in the Opposition space in the Upper House.

Ramesh was seen as an ideal choice as he already maintains backchannel talks with TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien, among others.

“The objective is clear. Some parties might not come and attend the meetings called by the Congress. But that is not important. Our aim is to ensure maximum unity in the Opposition camp. We will coordinate on issues and bills,” said a senior party leader, requesting anonymity.

The second half of the budget session is set to run till April 8. Several key bills, including the data protection bill and the crypto currency regulation bill are expected to be pushed by the Union government during the session.

The Opposition wants to raise issues such as the alleged delay in evacuation of Indian students from war-torn Ukraine, price rise and unemployment. Some members might also raise the border standoff with China in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, another leader, who also wished not to be named, said.