Congress to corner Centre on Ram temple donation row, paper leaks in Monsoon Session
The Congress party has finalized its strategy for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. Leadership vowed to block key constitutional amendments on delimitation and minister dismissals while cornering the Modi government on paper leaks and Ram temple donation allegations
New Delhi: 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.
“We have demanded several times that women’s reservation be implemented on the current strength of the Lok Sabha and if the government is willing to do that we will support it,” the Congress leader said.
The home minister has “split parties” and is looking to manage two-thirds majority by “cunningness” which would be an insult to the Constitution, he said, adding that such a majority would be a “blot on democracy”.
The BJP, however, will not be able to get a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, Ramesh asserted.
“Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun are in touch with all parties that had supported us on April 16 and 17 in defeating the government’s delimitation bill,” he said.
The opposition INDIA bloc will also hold its strategy meet on Monday ahead of the start of the session to evolve its joint strategy.
The government will meet leaders of various parties on Sunday to discuss various issues to be taken up during the session.
The government is likely to bring up crucial legislation, including the Constitution amendment bill on introducing delimitation and increase of Lok Sabha seats, besides one pertaining to the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and Union ministers on being jailed.
The opposition is also gearing up to take on the government on crucial issues, including the NEET paper leak case and the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, besides raising issues of rising oil prices and the Indo-US trade deal.
The Monsoon session of Parliament is starting on July 20 and is likely to continue till August 13.
