Party plans to coordinate with other Opposition parties to corner the Centre over multiple issues.
New Delhi: The first week of the current Monsoon session witnessed huge ruckus in both Houses over the issue of Pegasus spying software.
While demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe, the Congress-led UPA and other Opposition parties had tried to corner the Modi government, but a united Opposition was not visible.
Now, the Congress is planning to chalk out a strategy to coordinate with other Opposition parties and put up a joint effort to storm the second week of this session starting from Monday.
Apart from the Pegasus issue, the Congress is planning to raise the farmers’ protests and price rise issues with full force to hit out at the Modi government.
A source has told The Sunday Guardian that the Pegasus controversy was not there “when our President Sonia Gandhi had chaired a meeting with the core group of the party to chalk out the strategy for this session and issues like the farm laws, price rise, Covid-19 management and vaccination were identified to corner the government in the both Houses. Then, the issue of Pegasus emerged just a day ahead of commencement of the session; so the party was bound to raise it as it involved a serious threat to democracy. The party will not leave this issue, but other issues will also be raised vociferously. Now, the coordination with other Opposition parties will be very important for the Congress.”
In the first week of the session, a lack of coordination in Opposition parties was clearly visible when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called a meeting of floor leaders to brief them about the latest Covid-19 updates and preparation. Congress had decided boycott this meeting, but other parties, including Sharad Pawar’s NCP, had attended the meeting. Such a situation also arrived at the time when a joint Opposition had planned protest in Parliament, but it could not get the desired impact which gave the ruling BJP-led NDA a breather over the issue of alleged targeting of politicians, journalists and activists by Pegasus software.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has tasked leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to handle the coordination with other Opposition parties to put BJP on the backfoot in this session. Kharge has been making efforts to bring all like-minded parties on the same page, but it has become a bit difficult to coordinate with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) which is the second largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha, the source quoted above said. As Mamata Banerjee has been chosen as chairperson of TMC’s Parliamentary Party, so the Congress is hoping for a workable coordination with her for the next week of the session. Mamata Banerjee is also visiting New Delhi in the coming week and is expected to have some meetings with other Opposition parties to coordinate a joint Opposition assault on the Modi government in Parliament.