Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi.
Credit: PTI photo
New Delhi: Amid the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a ‘war of narratives’, Lok Sabha on Friday will start a two-day discussion to commemorate the 75th anniversary of adoption of India’s Constitution that will see top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra opening the debate for the Opposition through her debut speech in Parliament.
The debate in Lok Sabha will culminate with a reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday while Rajya Sabha is slated to take up the discussion on Monday and Tuesday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to be BJP’s opening speaker in Lok Sabha while Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to start the debate in Rajya Sabha
With Congress indicating an aggressive posture with Priyanka opening the debate for the I.N.D.I.A bloc, sources said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is likely to speak on Saturday. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will lead the charge for the Opposition in Rajya Sabha with sources indicating the likelihood of even Sonia Gandhi speaking during the debate in the Upper House where she was targeted by the treasury benches.
Both ruling and opposition camps are leaving no stones unturned to ensure that they emerge on top after the debate and both BJP and Congress have issued Whip to its Lok Sabha MPs to ensure attendance, as Parliament has witnessed a ‘narrative war’ in the past couple of days.
While Congress is going ahead with ‘Modi-Adani’ link though some other allies like Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party have other ideas, the BJP is seeking to corner the Congress accusing its leadership of having links with controversial billionaire George Soros.
The Opposition is all set to raise the ethnic violence in Manipur, violence in Sambhal, price rise, crisis in farm sector, federalism and other issues while the BJP is likely to attempt to put the Congress on the backfoot over Emergency and amendments to the Constitution at that time.
“Parliament is not an extended version of Mann ki Baat. When will Prime Minister Narendra Modi understand this?” Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien said when asked about the debate.
The government’s decision to agree to a debate on the Constitution had initially helped in smooth functioning of Parliament for a few days but it again fell into trouble after the BJP started raising the Soros issue. Earlier, Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge (Rajya Sabha) and Rahul (Lok Sabha) had written to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Om Birla respectively seeking a two-day debate on the Constitution.
On Wednesday, Rahul said the Congress is very clear that the debate on Constitution should take place and they would not allow “baseless” allegations levelled against him by the BJP would not impact it.