The Congress parliamentary party met on Tuesday and identified the latest revelations on the Adani Group, economic issues such as unemployment and price rise, the natural disaster in Himachal Pradesh and the ongoing instability in Manipur as its agenda for the upcoming special session of Parliament.
The government has called a special session from September 18 to 22 and has indicated that government business will dominate the proceedings of the session.
The Congress, however, made it clear that they will press for debate on the issues that are important for the country.
“We are not going to listen to Modi chalisa for five days,” said party general secretary Jairam Ramesh.
“There are political, social and diplomatic issues. We want to discuss our border situation. We are not going to sit for a Modi chalisa. We wanted to raise our issues in all the sessions but were not given time. We are hopeful that in this session, the government will take us on board. We will pick 5-7 issues and we will demand that under any rule, these issues are discussed,” added Ramesh.
Congress’ Lok Sabha deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi said that at the CPP meeting, the party decided to raise key national issues such as the economic situation —be it unemployment and price rise — floods in Himachal Pradesh and the North East. Even today, the instability continues in Manipur,”
“We also discussed the news related to Adani that has been published in international publications. Social tension is rising be it Nuh or in other places because of BJP’s divisive politics. These are key issues before the country.”
Both Gogoi and Ramesh slammed the government for not revealing the proposed business during the special session. “It is surprising that a special session has been announced but the BJP has not been able to reveal what are the important issues. The government is accountable to the people and parliament,” said Gogoi.
Ramesh said “Whenever special sessions are called, opposition parties are informed about the agenda. On a broader level, discussions take place between the government and the Opposition and an agenda is made. This is the first time a special session is called but the government is not revealing its agenda.”
There has been speculation that the government may bring a number of legislative items such as legislation on sub-quota in the 27% OBC reservation after the Rohini Commission has submitted its report to the President.
On Tuesday, there was buzz that the government could bring in legislation to rename the country Bharat. Some Opposition parties also expect the government to bring the women’s reservation bill in the special session.
