The decision was made at the congressional parliamentary strategy group meeting chaired by the head of the party, Sonia Gandhi, who also resolved to vigorously address the issue of Chinese aggression along the Royal Line of Control during the next Parliament Session. Monsoon, they said.
Sources said the party may offer the post of vice president to its ally DMK, and Tiruchi Siva is among the candidates being considered. In the event that the DMK does not appear, Congress will present its own candidate as it does not want the position to go unopposed.
According to a notification from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the election of the vice president was set for September 14, when the session will begin.
Rajya Sabha would receive notices of motions for the election to the post of vice president until noon on September 11, he said.
Harivansh is likely to be re-nominated to the NDA for the post that became vacant after his term ended.
He has since been re-elected to the Upper House as a member of Bihar. Congress had challenged the charge by introducing BK Hariprasad in August 2018 when Harivansh won. Since then, the NDA has further improved its position in the House, although it has yet to reach a majority.
The strategy group meeting was attended by party leaders from both houses, including Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rajya Sabha opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lok Sabha Congress party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury .
Top party leaders Ahmed Patel and Mallikarjun Kharge, plus congressional deputies in both houses, Anand Sharma and Gaurav Gogoi, and whip chiefs Jairam Ramesh and K Suresh, party whips on Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore and Ravneet Bittu, attended the virtual meeting.
This was the first time that some of the letter writers, Azad, Sharma and Manish Tewari, who had demanded party reform, came face to face with the leadership of Congress after the recent stormy meeting of the CWC.
The party will raise in both chambers the issue of Chinese aggression on the border and the current situation there, the sources said, adding that an extensive discussion on the issue was held during the meeting.
Sources claimed that some members, including Sharma and Tewari, said the party should not give the impression that it is “not nationalist” and that its position on the issue should not lower the morale of the soldiers.
Rahul Gandhi, however, said the issue will be raised strongly but that the party should calibrate its position on the matter, sources said.
Party leader Ahmed Patel pointed to articles written by some leaders, saying that it should be avoided as an individual’s position does not reflect the party’s position on the issue.
Former Prime Minister Singh said Congress should demand a white paper on China, Covid and unemployment issues, the sources said.
Congress will also demand a debate on the state of the economy after last-quarter GDP growth figures contracted by 23.9 percent. The question of non-payment of GST by the central government to the states will also be discussed.
The congressional strategy group decided to raise the issue of restoring Question Time in both houses during the session. The issue will be addressed at the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee in both chambers.
Congress also decided to raise in Parliament the issue of managing the Covid-19 pandemic as a result of the increase in the daily number of cases and India ranking second in total cases in the world, in addition to the effect of the lockdown.
Congress is also ready to firmly oppose a number of ordinances the government has introduced, including those on granting tax breaks to the PM Cares Fund, two agricultural ordinances, and one on essential commodities and banking regulations. However, it will be supportive in some ordinances.
The proposed environmental impact assessment (EIA) report will also be raised during the next session.
The meeting began with a speech by Sonia Gandhi who sought the leaders’ suggestion on the issues to be addressed during the next session.
Congress plans to launch an offensive against the government by developing a joint opposition strategy in this regard. In this sense, a meeting with leaders of other opposition parties is planned, the sources said.
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