INDIA Bloc parties meet online: here are the key takeaways
Opposition parties are set to grill the Modi government mainly on the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor
The INDIA Bloc, comprising 24 opposition parties, held a virtual meeting on Saturday (July 19) to unify their strategy for the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, beginning Monday. The alliance aims to collectively corner the government on various issues, projecting a message of unity.
It is learnt that alliance leaders agreed to hold a meeting in-person soon. According to sources, these issues will be taken up during the Monsoon Session and have the Centre on the mat.
1. Pahalgam terror attack, subsequent Operation Sindoor, the Indo-Pak ceasefire and mediatory statements by US President Donald Trump
3. India's foreign policy failures, particularly with regard to the US, China and Israel/Gaza.
4. Delimitation process
5. Rise in atrocities on Dalits, tribals, women and minorities across the country.
No discussion yet on J&K statehood
Briefing the media, Pramod Tiwari, Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, said some leaders also raised a demand for a discussion on the Ahmedabad flight crash. Curiously, demand for restoration of J&K's statehood and inclusion of Ladakh under the Constitution's Sixth Schedule did not figure in the list of issues the meeting discussed.
Catch our video discussion on India Bloc's big meeting ahead of Monsoon Session
Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, LoPs in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively, had jointly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week demanding that legislation for restoring J&K statehood and granting Sixth Schedule inclusion for Ladakh should be brought in the forthcoming Parliament Session. Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had logged in for the INDIA Bloc meeting, had also welcomed the letter by Kharge and Rahul.
It is unclear as of now if the twin issues of J&K and Ladakh were raised during the meeting and whether there was a lack of consensus among the Opposition parties on jointly pushing the demands made by Kharge and Rahul in their letter to Modi.
'Modi should attend session'
The Opposition parties also asserted that Modi should be present in Parliament when discussions on the Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor and related issues are taken up. The Bloc is also set to take up the Election Commission's controversial special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, NCP (SP)'s Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray (SS-UBT), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) M A Baby of CPI-M, D Raja (CPI), CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others.