Opposition will address national problems; Centre to push 31 Bills in Monsoon Session

New Delhi: Before Parliament’s Monsoon Session, ‘INDIA’, the newly formed Opposition alliance, plans to address crucial topics including Manipur’s ethnic violence, while the Centre plans to take up 31 laws.

The opposition will also discuss rail safety after the June 2 triple train tragedy in Odisha’s Balasore district.

These parties will also discuss unemployment, inflation, the India-China border, and the trade balance.

In the monsoon session, AAP would also contest the Union government’s rule on bureaucrat transfers and postings in Delhi, which bypassed a SC ruling.

On Thursday’s first day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, several parties plan to seek an adjournment motion over Manipur violence and other problems.

17 sittings make up the 17-day Monsoon Session.

Almost all parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharat Rashtra Smithi (BRS), Samajwadi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal United (JDU), Dravina Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), CPM, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spoke to the media before the government called an all-party meeting in Parliament. The summit included 34 parties and 44 leaders.

On Wednesday, the Congress declared it would address the Manipur violence problem on day one of the Monsoon Session to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response.

“Today, at the meeting’s start, I maintained my position. Violence in Manipur is our primary concern. The problem should be addressed in Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We will bring adjournment motion over the matter tomorrow,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary told ANI after an all-party meeting summoned by the administration.

Choudhary, the Lok Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition, also suggested discussing floods and India’s federal system.

In the meeting, Choudhary added, “We have not come here for tourism so want discussion in House.”

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the opposition’s demand for a discussion on Manipur is “non-negotiable” and that the government must abandon its “my way or the highway” approach for Parliament to function smoothly.

Ramesh said his party would oppose the measure to replace the Delhi ordinance because it “curtails constitutional rights and responsibilities of the elected government.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the administration was ready for a discussion on Manipur but called the opposition’s demand for a Prime Minister Narendra Modi speech a “caveat for disruption.”

“Manipur has been demanded by all parties.” After Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s meeting, Joshi remarked, “The government is ready for a Manipur discussion whenever the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker decide a date and time.”

Joshi added that when the government has committed to a discussion, raising issues that the prime minister should come is like inserting a caveat for creating disruption in Parliament.