New Delhi: The Congress' parliamentary strategic group led by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge met here on Monday and resolved to press for a discussion in both Houses on issues such as the bribery charges against the Adani Group in the US, the Manipur situation and the "engineered" communal violence in Uttar Pradesh.
Besides Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, deputy leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari, senior leaders P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari among others attended the meeting.
"We had a discussion on the issues that need to be debated in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. There are many economic, social and political issues. There is the issue of Modani scam, Manipur, the agreement with China that the government is claiming and the challenges being confronted at the border, the engineered communal riots in UP, so all these issues are there," Ramesh told reporters after the meeting.
"There are about 13-14 issues, including that of pollution. We will continue raising the issues we raised today in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha," he said. Ramesh asserted that the Congress was steadfast in its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani matter.
The Winter Session of Parliament got off to a rocky start on Monday with both houses being adjourned within minutes of the commencement of proceedings as the opposition tried to corner the government on the issue of corruption allegations against the Adani Group and demanded a JPC probe.
Several opposition MPs had given adjournment notices in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking suspension of the day's listed business to discuss the issue of the indictment of Adani Group head Gautam Adani and others in a US court on charges of paying bribes to secure solar power supply contracts.
But the notices were disallowed by the Chair, drawing protests from the opposition benches. Outside Parliament, the opposition INDIA bloc alleged that the government was "scared" of a discussion on the issue and sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the "scam".
They questioned why Parliament was adjourned for the day without transacting any business after which the Lok Sabha officials said it was a convention to adjourn the proceedings of the House for a short duration immediately after making an obituary reference to a sitting member.
There will be no sittings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of India's Constitution. Both houses will meet again on Wednesday (November 27).
President Droupadi Murmu will lead the celebrations at the Central Hall of the old Parliament complex on November 26 to mark the occasion. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Om Birla will also speak, the government said.
During a meeting of the business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha, Birla asked the political parties to avoid a ruckus in the House in the name of protests. He also flagged the issue of disruptions and urged the opposition leaders to convey their dissent in a constructive manner.
