Budget session: Test for Opposition unity, Congress readies strategy

The Trinamool Congress had stayed away from meetings of opposition floor leaders convened by Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge during the Winter Session but had played a major role in the dharna staged by suspended MPs at the Mahatma Gandhi statue the entire session.

But ties between the Congress and Trinamool Congress worsened after the Congress did not respond to the latter’s overtures for an electoral understanding in Goa. The Congress, upset with the TMC for “poaching” its leaders, had its own reasons not to respond.

Similarly, the NCP and Shiv Sena too were upset with the Congress for refusing to enter into a seat-sharing arrangement in Goa. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress are pitted against each other. In Punjab, the main battle appears to be between the ruling Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.

Given the situation, many Congress leaders are not hopeful of the Opposition putting up a united front unlike the last Budget session when they joined hands to boycott the President’s address over the farmers’ protests and raised the issue in both Houses unitedly.

The Congress nevertheless will reach out to other opposition parties, rather like-minded parties, to take on the government. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday chaired a meeting of the party’s parliamentary strategy group to finalise the issues to be raised.

The party decided to work with like-minded parties and raise issues such as agricultural distress, Chinese incursions, relief package for Covid victims and selling of Air India.

Besides Sonia and Kharge, the meeting was attended by Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, senior leaders A K Antony, K C Venugopal and Manish Tewari and floor managers Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, Kodikkunnil Suresh and Manickam Tagore.

The TMC, on the other hand, has already decided to bring a motion against West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar during the session. The party has been accusing the Governor of meddling in the functioning of the elected state government. It will also raise the issue of the amendments proposed by the central government in IAS cadre rules.

The Budget session begins on January 31 with the President’s address to a joint sitting of both Houses. The Union Budget will be presented on February 1. The first part of the session will conclude on February 11. The second part will begin on March 14, four days after counting of votes in the five states, and end on April 8.