Opposition Leaders To Meet At Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge's Office Ahead Of Budget Session

The Opposition leaders will on Monday hold a meeting at the office of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge ahead of the second leg of the Budget session.

The Opposition parties will meet to firm up their floor strategy for the remainder of the Budget session. Kharge is also the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha where Congress is the largest Opposition party with 31 MPs.

The Budget session began on January 31. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on February 1. On February 13, the Parliament went into a month-long recess and is set to resume on Monday. The session will conclude on April 6.

Among issues that are set to dominate the remainder of the Budget session are the Adani issue and the comments of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi abroad. While the Opposition is alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave undue benefits to industrialist Gautam Adani over the years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has latched onto Rahul's criticism of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) abroad. 

The Opposition leaders are expected to meet at Kharge's office in the Parliament complex at around 10 am, sources told PTI, adding that the Congress MPs will gather at the Congress Parliamentary Party office before the meeting to deliberate on the party's strategy.

Besides Adani and Rahul's comments, the Opposition parties are gearing up to corner the Modi government on issues such as alleged misuse of investigative agencies to target their leaders, border standoff with China, price rise, and unemployment.

The Congress continues to demand a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the allegations related to the Adani Group. Congress MP K Suresh maintained that his party will continue to raise the Adani-Hindenburg issue as the government is yet to give a reply on the controversy.

The focus, however, is on the alleged misuse of probe agencies with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family facing the heat from central agencies in the alleged land-for-jobs scam. Parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Left parties and the DMK have also lodged strong protests against the alleged attack on the federal structure and the misuse of institutions.

Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore has asserted that the Congress will strongly raise the issue of "misuse" of agencies.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday accused the Narendra Modi government of making "sinister attempts to kill democracy" by misusing probe agencies against Opposition leaders, as he slammed the Centre over the ED searches on the premises of Prasad's family.

The Trinamool Congress is set to raise in Parliament issues such as LIC and SBI's risk exposure, price rise of essential commodities, unemployment and "misuse" of central agencies during the second phase of the session, its Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien had said recently. He had said LIC's risk exposure and price rise affect the lives and savings of the common people and should be highlighted.

The TMC will also raise the issue of "political vendetta" against non-BJP-ruled states in Parliament and also question the Union government on "holding back funds for schemes such as MGNREGA", O'Brien said.

The issue of LIC and SBI's exposure to the Adani Group was raised by various opposition parties in the first leg of Parliament's Budget session which saw multiple disruptions.

(With PTI inputs)