New Delhi : Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Congress on Saturday said it will demand a discussion on the Manipur situation in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and would like Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the country into confidence on the matter.
The Opposition party also said it will raise some other pressing issues facing the country such as railway safety in the wake of the Balasore train tragedy, assault on the federal structure of the country, demand of joint parliamentary committee probe into the Adani issue, inflation, bringing the GST under the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the sexual harassment allegations against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The assertion was made by the party after an hour and a half long meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group, chaired by parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi and attended by the likes of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, among others.
While the government has claimed that the inflation rate had come down, actually the prices of essential commodities has increased and the Congress would like the issue to be discussed in Parliament and know from the government what it was doing about it, Ramesh said.
The party will reiterate the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations against the Adani group. He said some more facts had come up since the previous session of Parliament and the party will raise the matter again.
The party will also raise the issue of bringing the GST under the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which, Ramesh claimed, will lead to a lot of harassment to small and medium level traders.
The Congress will also raise the issue of the involvement of BJP MP and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bushan Singh in sexual harassment of female wrestlers
Besides these issues, the Congress general secretary said various matters specific to particular states such as the delimitation in Assam and alleged “atrocities” against Scheduled Castes and tribes in Madhya Pradesh will also be raised by the MPs of the party.
Ramesh also asserted that the Congress would oppose bills such as personal data protection and one to amend forest conservation law.
Parliament’s Monsoon Session will start on July 20 and continue till August 11. The session will be spread across 23 days and will have 17 sittings.
The government on Thursday listed bills on personal data protection, to amend forest conservation laws and on the contentious ordinance on Delhi services for the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning next week. ( With PTI inputs )