Cong gropes for issues to raise in Parliament

Oppn stages walkout over TN flood issue

After the high-pitch attack on the Modi government on intolerance, the Congress on Wednesday was virtually searching for issues to raise in Parliament.

The party’s floor managers were stumped when the Lok Sabha took up a discussion on the flood situation in parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh and chose to walkout of the House, a move strongly disapproved by some of its erstwhile allies.

Earlier, Congress members had made an attempt to stall the proceedings by protesting the purported “anti-Dalit” remarks of Union Minister V K Singh but their request was turned down by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The Speaker said the issue was covered adequately during the discussion on Commitment to Constitution as well as the eight-hour debate on incidents of intolerance.

Former UPA constituents too were grudging about the “unilateral” approach taken by the Congress and the lack of strategy to corner the Modi government in Parliament.

“The debate on intolerance should have been moved under an Adjournment Motion and not as a short duration discussion. There should have been a strong demand for the resignation of V K Singh. We have achieved nothing in the four days,” said a Lok Sabha member who usually sides with the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

The member along with members of the NCP, IUML and Left parties staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

NDA floor managers later claimed that senior NCP leaders had conveyed to them that they disapproved of the walkout and that there was some communication gap with the Lok Sabha unit of the party.

When the House took up discussion on the flood situation in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary participated in it.

A senior Left leader said the Congress walked into the trap of the government by agreeing to a short duration discussion on incidents of intolerance. Instead, the Congress should have stalled the House for at least a day and later agreed to a discussion on the issue.