Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will coordinate with other Opposition leaders to improve floor management during Parliament’s monsoon session starting next week, the Congress party’s parliamentary strategy group decided on Wednesday.
Kharge’s assignment as the Congress point person for opposition parties comes at a time the party plans to aggressively raise issues such as petrol price hike, the government’s vaccination strategy, the three farm laws, and job losses, in the session between July 19 and August 13. It also indicates that the Congress is keen to work closely with the Trinamool Congress in Parliament, and could help find a workaround given the icy relations between the Congress’s Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the Trinamool leadership.
Wednesday’s meeting, chaired by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, was attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Kharge, Anand Sharma, K Suresh, Manickam Tagore, and other leaders of the party. According to two party leaders, Rahul Gandhi also participated in the discussions for the first time after resigning from the party’s top seat in 2019 following the Congress’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.
In his intervention, Rahul proposed that the party raise at least six key issues during the session, such as the rise in prices of essential goods, and petrol and diesel, the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and farmers’ issues, among others. Singh spoke on the economic situation.
{{/usCountry}}In his intervention, Rahul proposed that the party raise at least six key issues during the session, such as the rise in prices of essential goods, and petrol and diesel, the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and farmers’ issues, among others. Singh spoke on the economic situation.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul also suggested that the party take up the Rafale issue as well in the wake of developments in the case.
The BJP, which expects the Congress-led Opposition to mount an offensive against the government, held a high-level meeting at the residence of Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday. This meeting was attended by BJP chief JP Nadda, and Union ministers Amit Shah, Prahlad Joshi, Bhupender Yadav and Dharmendra Pradhan, among others.
The Congress’s parliamentary party executive is expected to meet on Sunday.
A senior BJP functionary said the government is set to clear all “misconceptions”. “The Opposition politicised the issue of vaccines. First, several opposition leaders called it the BJP vaccine. Later, they accused the Centre of trying to micromanage the distribution; when the Centre allowed the states to make their own procurement they again had complaints and wanted the Centre to provide it free of costs,” said a senior party leader.