I.N.D.I.A. leaders to meet on August 7; Parliament gears up for showdown

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will host a dinner for top I.N.D.I.A leaders on August 7 to discuss electoral malpractices and Vice Presidential elections, as the ruling BJP and Opposition are gearing up for another week of showdown in Parliament with both remaining adamant on their stands on discussing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which the Opposition calls ‘vote-chori’.

A march by I.N.D.I.A. bloc MPs to the Election Commission will follow on August 8, as the Opposition is stepping up its attack on the Modi government.

This will be the first such meeting being hosted by Rahul at his new official residence at 5, Sunheri Bagh. At the meeting, Rahul is likely to brief the leaders about the evidence gathered by the Congress on electoral malpractices as well as on SIR.

Rahul, who will lead a protest in Bengaluru on August 5 claiming irregularities in Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, is also expected to brief the leaders on the “findings” of the Congress on alleged electoral malpractices.

On Saturday, he alleged that the Lok Sabha elections last year was “rigged” and that the Congress believes that electoral manipulation took place in 70-100 seats.

At the meeting, sources said the leaders may also have a preliminary discussion on the September 9 Vice Presidential polls, for which the notification will be issued on Thursday. This will be the first physical meeting of I.N.D.I.A. leaders after a meeting on June 1, 2024, the last day of Lok Sabha voting. On July 18 this year, they held an online meeting.

In Parliament, the government has made it clear that it has no intention to hold a debate on SIR in Parliament citing a direction by a previous Speaker, Balram Jakhar, who refused to accept a plea by CPI(M)’s Basudev Acharia to hold a discussion on the functioning of the Election Commission.

On the other hand, the Opposition has warned the government that not allowing a debate could mean a washout of the remaining Monsoon Session, which has 11 more sittings till August 21.

Not just the Bihar-based parties, Trinamool has also raised the pitch for a debate on SIR, as they believe the exercise could impact West Bengal too, which is going to polls next year.

“The SIR vote chori as a subject can easily be discussed in both Houses. The BJP is. Next week we will give the shaky Modi coalition a tutorial in Parliament and teach them how it can be discussed,” Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien said.

The Opposition sources said they were accommodative after the Operation Sindoor debate but the government has not reciprocated it. “We did not disrupt Lok Sabha on Wednesday (July 30) believing that the government will call a meeting to discuss the debate on SIR. They didn’t,” a senior leader said.

The leader claimed that they even participated in the discussion on extending President’s Rule in Manipur and it witnessed a 30-minute disruption due to a BJP MP and not them. However, the leader said, the government did not call a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee.

In Rajya Sabha, another Opposition leader said, the marshals blocking MPs from entering the Well have given a signal that the government is in a confrontation mode. “If there is no debate on SIR, then the House is unlikely to function,” the leader said.