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Congress parliamentary group to meet today, here’s what can be expected
The upcoming session comes following the recent announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal the three farm laws by the Centre, and the Union cabinet’s subsequent nod to approve the bill.
Ahead of the winter session of Parliament starting November 29, the Congress party will meet on Thursday to discuss the issues that would be raised. The meeting of Congress' parliamentary strategy group will be held at the residence of party president Sonia Gandhi.
The upcoming session comes following the recent announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal the three farm laws by the Centre, and the Union cabinet’s subsequent nod to approve the bill.
Earlier on Monday, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal told news agency ANI that the matter of inflation will be raised by the party in the winter session.
Apart from the inflation, demand to pay ₹4 lakh ex-gratia to the kin of those who died of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is also in the discussion pipeline. Congress is planning to raise the issue of ‘Covid management’, not only in the winter session of Parliament but also in public forums.
ANI reported that chief ministers of Congress-ruled states are planning to write to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government, seeking compensation to Covid-19 victims. The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leaders of every state will also “write to their respective chief ministers in the state” where Congress is not in power for the demand.
On Wednesday, Maharashtra CLP wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, urging him to commit ex-gratia of ₹1 lakh for the families of Covid-19 victims as per the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) norms so that the Centre is compelled to announce its share of ₹3 lakh for each Covid-19 fatality. In the letter, the CLP leader noted that according to the norms of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), 75 per cent of ₹four lakh has to be paid by the Centre whereas the remaining 25 per cent is the state’s responsibility.
The ANI report stated that Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the release of the ₹4 lakh compensation to Covid-19 victims’ families. The letter reportedly mentioned that Chhattisgarh government is committed to providing ₹1 lakh from the SDRF fund, and demanded the Centre’s share in the total compensation.
According to ANI, other chief ministers of Congress-ruled states will follow suit.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took to Twitter to take a dig at the saffron party-led Centre over the lack of compensation to the families of Covid-19 victims as well as improper entry of death figures. Sharing a 4 minutes and 30 seconds long video featuring families of Covid-19 victims, Rahul said that the Congress party has two demands – one is “revelation of correct figures of Covid deaths” and second is providing “ ₹4 lakh compensation…to the families who have lost their loved ones to Covid-19.”
“If you’re in power, you’ll have to eradicate the sufferings of the people. Due compensation should be provided,” the former Congress president wrote on the micro-blogging site.
The party also began a Twitter trend with the hashtag “#4LakhDenaHoga”.
According to ANI, Rahul will conduct a press conference on the issue of Covid-19 compensation a day before the commencement of the winter session of the Parliament, and will also post more such videos on social media.
Notably, the Centre informed the Supreme Court in September that ex-gratia ₹50,000 from the SDRF fund would be provided to the families of Covid-19 victims. The compensation will be paid for any future Covid-related fatality as well.
