Parliament monsoon session: Sonia Gandhi calls meeting on July 15 to finalise Congress strategy

New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group will meet on Tuesday to finalise the strategy for the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting July 21 during which the Opposition is expected to raise Special Intensive Revision of Bihar electoral rolls and Operation Sindoor.

The meeting will be chaired by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and attended by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Senior MPs KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Manickam Tagore among others are members of the panel.

The Monsoon Session will end only on August 21, a week longer than usual, during which the government is expected to bring some key legislation, including one on allowing the entry of the private sector in the atomic energy domain.

While the Congress top leaders will discuss the strategy on Pahalgam terror strike, Operation Sindoor and subsequent global outreach, they will also deliberate on how to go about the government's plans to impeach Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.

There is opposition within the Congress and other parties over the issue with some supporting Justice Varma. Also, the Opposition's notice to impeach another Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Yadav has not seen any forward movement and they are expected to raise it when the government approaches for impeaching Justice Varma.

Once the party finalises the broad contours of its strategy, Congress is likely to approach other I.N.D.I.A bloc parties to discuss floor strategy and the issues of common interest.

One of the major issues for the Opposition would be the SIR in Bihar and all the I.N.D.I.A parties in Bihar, which have collectively approached the Supreme Court, are up in arms against the exercise, which they claim could lead to disenfranchising around two crore voters.

The parties are also likely to go on an offensive on Operation Sindoor, especially after the government refused to call a special session of Parliament to discuss the terror strike and subsequent developments.

Sources said the Congress and other parties are expected to try to put the government on the mat over military losses as well as US President Donald Trump's claims of mediation in ensuring an India-Pakistan ceasefire.

The trade negotiations with the US, state of economy, price rise and unemployment as well as alleged harassment of Bengali migrant workers by accusing them of illegal migrants from Bangladesh in BJP-ruled statements.