Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has invited floor leaders of 17 Opposition parties for a breakfast meeting on Tuesday to chart out a joint parliamentary strategy for the Monsoon session.
Mr. Gandhi’s move is also an attempt to keep Opposition unity intact, as the session enters its third week.
Among those invited are DMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Admi Party, National Conference, CPI and CPI (Marxist).
It is, however, not yet known how many leaders will turn up for the meet.
Two weeks of the Monsoon session that got under way on July 19 have been washed out because of the Opposition’s insistence on first discussing the Pegasus snooping controversy and the farm laws before other issues.
The government has, so far, rejected the demand for a discussion on Pegasus and carried out its legislative agenda amid Opposition protests.
“All Opposition Party floor leaders will meet tomorrow morning at the Constitution Club in Delhi,” Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday.
Opposition leaders are mulling over various strategies to step up its attack on the government and force a debate on the Pegasus issue. From holding a mock Parliament, to exploring the option of sitting inside the House even after it is adjourned, various options are on the table.
“We are discussing several options to register our protest,” CPI MP Binoy Viswom told The Hindu .
Mr. Kharge had sent a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to register the Opposition’s protest at his decision to not accept any of their notices on snooping and farm laws.
Posting two of his notices, Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Notices for discussion on urgent issues of public importance given on July 23rd in the Rajya Sabha but still not allowed by the Chairman and the government”.
