NEW DELHI: The absence of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders would not affect the party’s floor management or strategies in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament, said Congress MP and Lok Sabha chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh. The winter session of the Parliament will commence on December 7 (tomorrow) and will continue till December 29. It will have 17 sittings spread over 23 days.
The Lok Sabha MP also said that the party’s strategy will be to intervene positively and avoid disruptions to ensure the smooth functioning of the House. The party will also try to reach a consensus with its allies on the issue of reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) before discussing it in the House, he said.
Besides Gandhi, Congress’ Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh and senior leader Digvijaya Singh too, will be mostly away from the winter session on account of the Bharat Jodo Yatra which entered Rajasthan on Monday. Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi told this paper that he will be joining the winter session only in the second week of December as he is leading a ‘yatra’ in his home state Assam.
Speaking to this newspaper, Suresh said that the absence of Rahul Gandhi and other leaders wouldn’t be felt much as Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other senior leaders Manish Tewari and himself will be handling the floor management, debates, and coordination with other opposition parties.
In RS too, party whips Naseer Hussain and Chaya Verma will pitch in for Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, he said. Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh may also give the winter session a miss for Bharat Jodo Yatra. “MPs Rajeev Shukla and Pramod Tiwari will also help Kharge with floor management and coordination,” said Suresh.
Congress has decided to continue with Kharge as the LoP till the winter session of the Parliament, said the leader adding that a new leader will be chosen in the Plenary session in February. The party wants to avoid a washed-out session, he said. “We will not disrupt or stall the House unless it’s very critical,” he added.
The top brass of the party, in a meeting last week, decided to corner the government on three main issues — rising inflation, the border standoff with China, and the weakening of constitutional institutions. The party said that it will also ask the government to rethink the issue of EWS.
