E-Paper
INDIA bloc parties hold virtual meet to finalise strategy for monsoon session
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said 24 parties are part of the ongoing INDIA bloc talks, marking the first coordinated meeting of the alliance in several weeks.
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc were locked in a virtual meeting on Saturday to forge consensus on key issues they plan to raise during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, even as they sought to convey a message of unity ahead of the high-stakes session beginning Monday.
Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said that 24 political parties are participating in the ongoing discussions, the first such coordinated engagement of the alliance in several weeks.
The meeting is being attended by senior leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Oppsoition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others.
Top on the agenda are issues such as the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, and the controversial Operation Sindoor, news agency PTI reported.
The opposition leaders are also expected to deliberate on US President Donald Trump’s remarks claiming to have halted hostilities between India and Pakistan, and the call for impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma, who is embroiled in controversy after burnt currency notes were recovered from his residence following a fire incident.
The Congress has resolved to press for debates on Jammu and Kashmir’s full statehood, increasing crimes against women, the Ahmedabad air crash, rising unemployment, and farmers' distress, PTI added, citing sources.
Earlier this week, Sonia Gandhi had chaired a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group at her 10, Janpath residence to firm up the party’s stand on several of these issues.
The INDIA bloc meeting comes just two days before the monsoon session, signalling a renewed effort to present a united opposition front inside Parliament.
With PTI inputs
