Mallikarjun Kharge or Sonia Gandhi to seek special session agenda in letter to PM
Congress parliamentary strategy group and INDIA bloc floor leaders have decided to tread cautiously on government's reported moves on 'changing' the name of India to Bharat, holding synchronised elections and introducing politically significant bills/resolutions in the forthcoming special session of Parliament.
The meetings decided to make an issue of the government's «refusal» to share the special session's agenda with the Opposition. It is learnt that either CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi or LoP Mallikarjun Kharge would soon write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek clarity on the session agenda and demand that the session accommodate social-economic issues that the Opposition wants to raise and debate.
While the Opposition's resolve is to 'constructively participate' in the special session, it will also demand discussions on the latest developments on the Adani issue and will protest the government decision not to include question and answer sessions and zero hours.
It is learnt that during the 10 Janpath meeting of Congress parliamentary committee, many participants felt the party must adopt a politically calculated and tactful stand on the government move to change the name of the nation to Bharat even though its intention is highly suspect. They also felt since Article 1 of the Constitution clearly mentions «India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states», the Congress need not rush to oppose the proposal blindly and wait to see whether the government proposes a legislation or a parliamentary resolution.
