New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday said that it will raise the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Manipur violence and the disqualification of former party chief Rahul Gandhi among other issues during the parliament monsoon session.
“Today Parliamentary Strategy Group meeting was chaired by Sonia Gandhi in which our party President Kharge was also present. This time we had the meeting 20 days prior to the Monsoon Session because there are several issues of public interest which needs to be discussed and how to raise them in Parliament,” Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh told media persons after Congress held a meeting of its Parliamentary Strategy Group on Saturday.
“Manipur violence was discussed first. Rahul Gandhi’s visit was also discussed and how the government has collapsed in the northeastern state was discussed,” he said.
Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said that Congress demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his silence.
“We demand that Chief Minister N Biren Singh must resign after the drama that took place in Imphal yesterday,” he said referring to the resignation letter of the Chief Minister which was torn by women supporters outside his residence.
The Congress leader said that it had demanded for a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Home which was not accepted either.
“Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification and Balasore train tragedy were also discussed,” he said, adding that Congress President also discussed the issue of inflation and has said that the party will demand a discussion over the same.
“Congress President Kharge also raised the issue of attack on the institutions and will raise the issue and also highlight how the Governors are working and will also stand with the opposition parties on the issue,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader said that even the issue of wrestlers, who had staged protest alleging sexual harassment by the Wrestling Federation of India President Brijbhushan Sharan Singh will also be raised in Parliament.
Commenting on the issue of UCC, Ramesh said: “We issued a statement in Uniform Civil Code on June 15 and we stand by that. The Law Commission which has asked for recommendations from people on June 14 and we reacted then and from then till date there is nothing new so we will not comment on that.”
He urged the government to allow Congress and the opposition to raise the issue of public interest during the monsoon session in the parliament.
“We want the house to run and we hope that the government will give opportunity to Congress and other opposition parties to raise issues. We want the House to be run,” he said.
The Parliamentary Strategy Group meeting was chaired by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence and lasted for over one and a half hours.
Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party MPs KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Manickam Tagore, Pramod Tiwari, Shaktisinh Gohil, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and several others attended the meeting.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament will commence on July 20 and will conclude on August 11.
The Monsoon Session is expected to be stormy as the opposition will raise several issues.
