Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategic Group on Tuesday to chalk out the party’s strategy for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The session is scheduled to take place from July 21 to August 21.
The meeting aims to finalize the Congress party’s approach to various issues likely to be raised during the Monsoon Session. Some of the key issues to be taken up at the meeting include Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, government’s diplomatic outreach, Election Commission of India’s (ECI) move on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, and US President Donald Trump’s claim of brokering an India-Pakistan ceasefire.
The Congress has been repeatedly demanding that the government convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, a military exercise carried out by the Indian Army to dismantle terror infrastructure inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
At the same time, the party will also press for a discussion on the government’s diplomatic outreach to mobilise global opinion against terrorism in the aftermath of Pahalgam attack and in favour of Operation Sindoor.
The Opposition, including the Congress party, has also been raising concerns over the ECI’s decision to carry out a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. The Opposition parties have expressed apprehensions that the SIR drive would lead to disenfranchisement of a large section of the electorate, particularly the marginalised.
The Opposition parties have also been consistently pressing the government to come clean on US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered a truce between India and Pakistan despite persistent and vehement denial by the Indian government.
The meeting is expected to be attended by senior Congress leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the government has also announced an all-party meeting on July 19, ahead of the Monsoon Session. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the meeting would discuss the legislative agenda and seek consensus before the session begins.