RS deputy chairman poll: Congress to push for joint opposition candidate

A meeting of the opposition parties is expected later this week

[File] Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh | PTI [File] Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh | PTI

The 0pposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the election of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, with the Congress on Tuesday mooting the proposal at its meeting to chalk out its strategy for the upcoming session of Parliament.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who chaired the meeting of the party's parliamentary strategy group, called for the party reaching out to other opposition parties for the purpose of fielding a joint candidate. Sonia is learnt to have asked Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad to talk to other parties in this regard.

The Congress discussing the proposal in the meeting on Tuesday is significant since a meeting of the opposition parties is expected to be held later this week. It is a clear indication of the Congress, along with the other opposition parties, taking an aggressive stand against the government.

The post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman had fallen vacant after the tenure of JD(U) MP Harivansh ended in April this year. He is expected to be renominated for the post by the NDA. The election will be held on the first day of the monsoon session which begins on September 14. The last date for filing nomination for the election is September 11.

The meeting was attended by, besides Sonia and former party president Rahul Gandhi, key party members from both the houses. From the upper house, the leaders who participated in the virtual interaction included Azad, Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, party's chief whip Jairam Ramesh, newly-elected members of the house Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal and party veterans former premier Manmohan Singh and A.K. Antony. Leaders from the Lok Sabha included party's leader in the house Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry, newly-appointed deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh, whips Manickam Tagore and Ravneet Singh Bittu, and Manish Tewari.

At the meeting, Rahul is learnt to have stated that the party should take the government head-on with regard to the situation along the Line of Actual Control. He is also said to have emphasised upon the issues of unemployment and the downturn in the economy.

It was decided at the meeting that the party will take an aggressive stand with regard to the government's handling of the situation along the LAC. The party will seek a discussion on the floor of the house on the issue.

Amongst the issues that the Congress has decided to highlight in the upcoming session are the government's perceived failure in controlling the spread of COVID-19, the failure of the Centre to pay GST dues to the states and Facebook’s alleged tilt towards the ruling dispensation when it came to taking action against hate content. The party has also decided to oppose the ordinances that the government will bring in the session seeking their ratification by Parliament.

The meeting was also significant since this was the first time that some of the key leaders, who had signed on the 'letter of dissent' that was sent to Sonia last month seeking sweeping reforms in the party, came face to face with Sonia and Rahul as also the leaders who had staunchly defended the Gandhis against what was perceived as a challenge to their leadership.

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