Congress steps up efforts to unite opposition against NDA govt

New Delhi: With less than 10 days to go for the start of what is expected to be a stormy monsoon session of Parliament, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi is mobilizing opposition parties with a plan to attack the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over a string of corruption scandals that have jolted it in recent weeks.

Senior leaders of the Congress parliamentary party, including those from the Rajya Sabha, are holding talks with party leaders from key opposition parties. Sonia Gandhi has invited leaders from opposition parties for an iftaar party on Monday.

While she holds the event every year, its significance this time is that the Congress is in a minority in the Lok Sabha and is looking to build a bigger opposition bloc against the government

The three-week-long monsoon session starts on 21 July.

“The top leadership is holding talks with the opposition leaders at the highest level through senior leaders of the party. The idea is not to rally the opposition on the issue of the land acquisition bill or the goods and services tax bill because these are more continuous issues. Our main focus is to highlight the recent corruption charges against the government, particularly those against (Madhya Pradesh chief minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” said a senior Congress leader, aware of developments, requesting anonymity.

Over the past month, several leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have faced criticism over alleged corruption, and the Congress is looking to step up the heat on that front.

The most serious of them is the so-called Vyapam scam, involving the rigging of tests conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, with about 50 people involved in the scam dying mysteriously.

Opposition parties led by the Congress have demanded Chouhan’s resignation over the issue.

The Congress is also looking to highlight the allegations that external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje helped former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi, who left India in 2010 after India’s cricket control body suspended him on various charges. Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved against Lalit Modi, following charges of corruption in the IPL.

Lalit Modi says that there were threats to his security in India. Swaraj helped secure UK travel documents for London-based Modi to visit Portugal last year while Raje allegedly endorsed his immigration plea to the UK authorities in 2011.

A senior Left party leader confirmed the Congress move, saying, “We have been contacted by the Congress and other opposition parties were approached as well. Ghulam Nabi Azad (leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha) had called us over the phone to discuss the upcoming session and other Congress leaders have also been in informal talks.”

The leader added, “A more formal channel of discussion will open up mostly three or four days before the session begins.”

Sonia Gandhi has invited almost all the top leaders of the opposition parties for her iftaar party. The occasion is being seen as a strategic move by the Congress party to informally bring together all constituents of the opposition.

But Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad has said he will not be able to attend the meeting because he is holding a protest in Patna on the same day against the government for not releasing census data on caste.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, too will be unavailable but is going to send a party representative.

Meanwhile, expecting a stormy monsoon session over the opposition’s attempt to corner it, the NDA too is planning a meeting of all parties to pitch for the smooth passage of controversial bills that have been blocked by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

The two bills that the government is keen to see passed in this session are the constitutional amendment bill to allow rollout of the goods and services tax and the land acquisition bill.

“The government is aware that this session, the NDA will come under severe attack from the opposition, and we suspect that not much work will be allowed to be done by the opposition parties, especially the Congress. The government will hold talks with all opposition parties for the smooth functioning of Parliament. There is no reason why work should get stopped and crucial bills delayed. We have agreed to all demands of opposition parties on land acquisition bill and the GST bill and now it should get passed,” said a senior leader of the BJP.

Political analysts said the BJP will find it hard to defend itself from opposition attacks during the session, because many BJP leaders will not find it easy to support the government over the allegations surrounding Swaraj and Raje.

Experts also feel that the allegations against Chouhan have affected the common people in the state and its political impact will resonate in Parliament.

A.K. Verma, a Kanpur-based political analyst, said: “This is a very good strategy of the Congress. There is a pattern to this. It is not only trying to bring opposition parties together on corruption, but it is also planning a coordinated assault on the government even before government holds an all-party meeting. I think even some of the BJP leaders will find it difficult to defend Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj.”