Will Shashi Tharoor, Congress's star speaker in Lok Sabha, who always swayed the house with his speeches, be given a chance by the party to speak during the marathon debate on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack?
The relationship between the Congress MP from Kerala and the party leadership had soured after Tharoor took a stand different from the party on the issues. Tharoor had maintained "nation first" stand and sided with the government while the Congress targeted the Union government over US President Donald Trump's claims of resolving the conflict.
Despite not being Congress's official pick, Tharoor led India's delegation to the US and UN, as part of an outreach campaign in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Tharoor's take had put the Congress on the back foot, leading to even some Congress leaders asking him to leave the party.
After a week marked by the disruption of businesses over opposition protests, the Parliament is set to witness a 16-hour marathon debate in both houses on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor on Monday.
According to reports, 16-hour marathon debates will be conducted in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha over the terror attack, and the military action in the aftermath. As per the agenda for the day in Lok Sabha, the house will have a "special discussion on India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to terrorist attack in Pahalgam".
The Congress party has issued a whip to all its members to be available in the house for three days. According to reports, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are likely to lead the charge against the government in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively.
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While the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is likely to focus on success of Operation Sindoor against terror and military assets in Pakistan, the opposition is planning to corner the government over the intelligence and security failure that led to the Pahalgam terror attack, and delay in arrest of alleged Pakistani terrorists who carried out the attacks.
The opposition is also likely to target the Centre over US President Donald Trump's claims of "stopping" the India-Pak conflict, which he repeated on Monday as well. The opposition will also question the government on Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan's acknowledgement that India suffered losses during the initial phase of the operation, and similar comments by a defence attache in Indonesia.
As per reports, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be speaking on the issues in Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to make an intervention to convey his government's "robust" stand against terrorism.
