New Delhi, July 16 -- The Congress on Thursday said it will corner the government on critical issues such as the alleged theft of donations from the Ram temple and "systemic corrosion" of education system during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The party also asserted that it will strongly oppose the constitutional amendment bills related to delimitation and dismissal of ministers and chief ministers during the session beginning July 20.
Senior Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders deliberated on key issues to be taken up during the session. The meeting was held at the 10, Janpath residence of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Among other Congress leaders who attended the key strategy meeting included AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Congress' chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, P Chidambaram, K Suresh, Naseer Hussain, Manickam Tagore, Kumari Selja, Tariq Anwar, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari among others.
In a post on X, Kharge said, "Chanda Chori -- Astha se Dhoka, Paper leaks and the systemic corrosion of education system, institutional capture, breaking of political parties, multiple scams and charges of corruption, backbreaking price rise, foreign policy failures and strategic blunders, the imposition of ethanol blending on 3.5 crore vehicle owners, unbridled deforestation, and the continued assault on the rights of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities are among the critical issues on which the Congress Party will hold the Modi government accountable during the forthcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament."
These pressing concerns affecting the lives and aspirations of the people were deliberated upon during the meeting, Kharge said.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Ramesh said, "We have learnt that the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) is making efforts to bring back the Delimitation Bill. The government failed to secure a two-thirds majority on 17th April and suffered a significant setback. It now wants to reintroduce the Bill."
This was discussed along with the Constitution amendment bill which seeks the removal of ministers in custody for 30 days over serious offences, he said.
"The Congress Party has consistently maintained that it will strongly oppose the Delimitation Bill and will continue to do so. We will also make every effort to maintain the unity and solidarity of all Opposition parties. Similarly, we will firmly oppose the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill related to the removal of ministers," he said.
There was also some discussion on the 'One Nation, One Election' on which a JPC has been constituted, Ramesh said.
"We will also oppose the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill in its entirety. It is possible that the Bill may be introduced during this session. There is also a possibility that the FCRA Amendment Bill will be introduced. We will oppose it as well. We had opposed it earlier, following which the government withdrew the Bill. However, we are now hearing that it may be brought back," Ramesh said.
Another important issue discussed was the proposed amendments to the National Food Security Act, 2013, which forms the basis of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, he said.
"We are completely opposed to these proposed amendments, and if the Bill is introduced during this session, we will strongly oppose it. As far as the legislative agenda is concerned, I do not see any Bill before us that we can support," Ramesh said.
The Congress is strongly opposed to the two Constitution amendment bills, he said.
Ahead of the Monsoon session beginning July 20, the INDIA bloc will meet on Monday to finalise its strategy. The Opposition plans to challenge the government's proposed delimitation bill and raise issues including the NEET paper leak, alleged Ayodhya Ram temple donation irregularities, rising oil prices and the Indo-US trade deal.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.