The Congress-led Opposition is all set to oppose four of the 11 Government Ordinances and try to corner the ruling dispensation on the issue of the LAC tension, Covid-19 situation and plight of the economy in the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting Monday.
Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, on Sunday said like-minded non-NDA parties have largely agreed on a joint strategy to question the four ordinances.
“We've proposed that the issues of unemployment, the status of migrant labourers and the economic scenario in the country, to be discussed in the upcoming Session both the Houses. The Government has not handled the China territorial problem, and the relation with neighbouring Nepal is at its lowest ebb. We have urged the Government that our voices should be heard in Parliament," said Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Party sources said the Opposition will also raise the issue of Delhi riot supplementary chargesheet in which the the names of several political personalities including Sitaram Yechury and Yogendra Yadav appear in a disclosure statement of an accused.
Jairam Ramesh said they will be re opposing three ordinances “clearly and 100 per cent”.
Two of these are on agri-marketing and the third is on essential commodities. The Chief Ministers of agriculture-dominated namely Punjab and Chhattisgarh have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against these ordinances and the Punjab Assembly had even passed a resolution against these Jairam said at AICC press conference on the eve of Monsoon Session.
The Covid-19 situation could impact the attendance in parliament as many leaders could skip the session. .
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are likely to miss the first half of the session. Sonia left the country late Saturday night for a routine medical check-up which could not take place earlier due to the ongoing pandemic related lockdown. She is accompanied by Rahul.
Not only the Congress high command, but many party leaders are also likely to skip the 15-day long monsoon session on account of fears of exposing themselves to the coronavirus disease despite efforts from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha authorities to ensure a safe session.
In such a situation, the Monday’s election of Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha is likely to be affected. The post is being contested by senior JDU leader and former Deputy Chairman Harivansh and RJD leader Manoj Jha.
Several leaders are reported to have been advised to exercise extreme caution during while attending the parliament due to Covid-19 outbreak. Former prime minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh is likely to attend Parliament’s inaugural session but is expected to skip rest of the session on advise from his doctors. The 87-year-old Singh has been strictly asked to not leave home by his doctors.
Another Congress leader and former defence minister AK Antony, 79, may not attend the House daily but will be there on a few occasions.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also said some of her senior party leaders who are old or suffering from an ailment will skip the upcoming parliament session.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu have been personally overseeing all preparations to implement Covid-19 safety protocols. Both the Presiding officers have conducted mock session of the Parliament comprising of staff of both the Houses and using even Central Hall to conduct the session smoothly.
Without naming any party, Jairam however at the Press briefing said that Opposition parties had a broad understanding on opposing the four ordinances, which the Congress has decided to question vehemently. Congress said it would support the rest of the ordinances with some riders.
While backing the Bill that seeks to cut salaries of the Member of Parliaments by 30 per cent for a year as a COVID austerity measure, the Congress said it would question the “wasteful Central Vista” project and oppose the suspension of the MPLADS funding for two years.
“So many works of public importance are hanging fire. The MPLADS must be restored,” Jairam said.
Congress said while it would support the Taxation Amendment Bill, it would strongly oppose one provision in this bill whereby the PM CARES is sought to be exempted from the tax net.
“We are against this. PM CARES is non-transparent. No CAG audit, no RTI is allowed for it. Many industrialists have given money to this fund and so have some Chinese firms as we learn from some reports. We will demand that if PM CARES has to stay it must be made transparent,” said the Congress leader.
The Congress has also declared support to the bill replacing the Epidemic Diseases Amendment Ordinance, 2020, to make assault of health workers punishable and non-bailable and said it would seek answers from the government on COVID mismanagement.
