Ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament beginning Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would give a suitable answer to the Opposition’s attempts to attack the government.
He was addressing a meeting of NDA floor leaders here on Tuesday.
Debate on lynching
Significantly, sources present in the meeting said NDA ally Shiv Sena raised the issue of lynching, specifically the incident in Dhule in Maharashtra where five people died, and said Parliament needed to discuss the incidents and find ways to prevent them.
“No notice has been moved by the party, but if a debate happens, then Shiv Sena MPs will speak,” said a source in the Sena.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said NDA floor leaders passed a resolution felicitating Prime Minister Modi for the government’s recent decision to hike the minimum support price for several crops and the Ayushman Bharat programme.
Mr. Modi, on his part, said the credit should go to the NDA partners who made up his government.
“We are NDA-plus, and we will face the Opposition and its campaign of divisiveness together,” the Prime Minister is reported to have told the leaders.
Though it raised the issue of lynching, the Shiv Sena assured the government of its support during the session.
“We have been together and in future too, we will remain together,” Sena leaders present at the meeting are reported to have said.
‘Inappropriate gesture’
Mr. Modi also made a reference to the distribution of iPhone X mobiles and a “Moochies” laptop bag to Karnataka MPs attending a meeting on the Cauvery issue called by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. He said such an act when certain sections of society faced economic distress inappropriate.
“The kind of government he [Mr. Kumaraswamy] is running is evident from his tears,” Mr. Modi is reported to have said, referring to the Chief Minister’s tearful speech at a recent Janata Dal(S) event.
