The Congress Party held its second Parliamentary Strategy Meeting on Saturday evening at Party Parliamentary Chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence to discuss the issues to be raised in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament. The meeting was attended by floor leaders including party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The meeting, which took place for one-and-a-half hours, deliberated on the issues to be discussed in the upcoming Parliament session which included unrest in Manipur and rail safety among other topics.
“There are five-six major issues on which we definitely need discussion,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh at a press conference following the meeting.
The first one being the unrest in Manipur as a result of ethnic violence, “discussion is very important on this issue,” said the Congress leader. “The PM needs to speak and a debate needs to happen in the presence of the PM,” he said.
“What has happened in Manipur, what has the Centre and State done and what they will do, he (PM Modi) should make the MPs know about it,” Jairam said. “He should break his silence.”
The second issue the party has decided to take up is rail safety in the country. “The compromise that happened regarding rail safety in the name of Vande Bharat and the unfortunate example we saw in Balasore,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the MPs did not have the opportunity to discuss in detail the work being done or not done in the railway ministry because the rail budget is not presented separately.
“Attack on federal structure by Modi govt and its appointed people like governors,” is the third issue the party has decided to raise in the Parliament.
The party will also demand discussion on Goods and Service Tax being brought under the ambit of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“As per the latest information, PMLA will apply to small traders which, we understand that without any discussion and information has been decided by the Modi government on its own,” Jairam said.
Congress will take up the issue of inflation and employment. “Some schemes like MGNREGA, programmes implemented for rural development since the time of UPA, are being weakened by giving different excuses.”
“People want employment but they don’t get it. It’s a strange situation and we'll definitely raise this issue,” he said.
In the upcoming Monsoon session of the Parliament, beginning on July 20 till August 11, the Congress will also question the government on the female wrestlers’ demand for action against their federation chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“This issue too came to our mind and we will surely raise this in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,” said the Congress leader.
The party will again stand on its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations of financial irregularities against Adani Group by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
Jairam said that state-specific issues like Assam delimitation and assault on Dalits and tribals in Madhya Pradesh will also be raised in the Parliament during the upcoming Monsoon Session.