New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday made it clear that the party will demand a roll-back of the Agnipath scheme during the coming Parliament session in presence of Manish Tewari, who has supported the policy. According to sources, Sonia Gandhi made the observation during a strategy meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, ahead of Parliament’s Monsoon Session starting July 18.
The Congress had recently distanced from Tewari, a Lok Sabha member from Punjab, after he had come out in support of the Agnipath scheme, saying such a policy was needed. His stand was against the official Congress position on the defense recruitment scheme which has been opposed by the grand old party in a nationwide campaign and will now be protested inside the Parliament.
The Congress has maintained that the Agnipath scheme was drafted in a hurry, is against the youth and will demoralize the armed forces. The sources said that if a debate takes place on the Agnipath scheme during the coming Parliament session, Tewari, known as an excellent orator, may not be fielded by the party to speak on the subject.
Agnipath, of course, is not the only priority for the Congress chief, who urged party’s lawmakers to play an aggressive opposition by raising pro-people issues and work together with the other like-minded parties to corner the government. The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress will raise issues like price rise affecting the people directly.
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High prices of fuel and food items, unemployment, attack on federalism, sliding economy and Rupee, attacks on minorities and hate speeches, attack on institutions, misuse of central agencies against political rivals, forest conservation rules affecting the lives of Tribals, privatization of public banks, and the border threat from China during the monsoon session would also figure in the Congress agenda, Kharge said.
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary said the Congress wanted to work with the government to ensure passage of relevant bills but would not shy sway from its role as the main opposition. “There is communal tension in the country even as the economy is sliding. We need peace and stability for progress,” he said.
“The PM would ensure that the opposition has enough issues to raise in the session. It is our duty as the main opposition to raise burning issues,” he said, adding that the government has so far not listed its legislative agenda. Rajya Sabha member Shakti Sinh Gohil said: “We will work with the other opposition parties in raising the relevant issues in parliament.”
Towards that goal, Sonia Gandhi has directed Kharge to host a meeting of opposition parties on July 17 to finalise a joint nominee for the vice- presidential polls on August 6. “We have invited all the parties. We will not impose our candidate. We will support any candidate approved by the opposition parties,” said Kharge.
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The meeting of the opposition parties, he said, would be held after the annual all-party meeting that has been convened by the government on July 17. On July 18, the first day of the monsoon session, polling for the presidential polls would be held. Joint opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha is contesting against NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, a Tribal leader.
