Congress plans adjournment motion
RAFALE ROW Will raise the issue in Parliament today and push for a debate on the fighter jet deal
NEWDELHI: The Congress is set to initiate an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Parliament on the Rafale jet fighter deal and is likely to push an adjournment motion for debate on Wednesday.
Congress’ Lok Sabha floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge has conveyed to various Opposition parties that it may bring an adjournment motion on the issue as early as on Wednesday. At the all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Tuesday, Kharge flagged Rafale as a priority issue for the Congress.
An adjournment motion means all other items on parliament’s agenda would take a back seat while the House takes up the motion on a priority basis. The debate will be followed by a vote, wherein a defeat would be an embarrassment for the BJP.
To strengthen Opposition unity, Trinamool Congress, the second largest party in the Lower House, and the Left are also set to support the Congress demand.
A senior Trinamool Congress leader said, “We had earlier decided to push another adjournment motion, but as an afterthought, deferred our plan as we don’t want to create any division in the Opposition ranks.”
“We will protest against the breakdown of institutions like RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investiga- tion,” said Trinamool’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay. He is likely to move a calling attention motion on the issue.
In the monsoon session of Parliament in July this year, the Opposition had moved a no-confidence motion against the government and during that debate Congress president Rahul Gandhi tried to turn up the heat on the BJP over alleged wrongdoing in the Rafale deal. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had denied all opposition charges over the deal, but the debate became a turning point for the Congress. It stepped up its campaign on the Rafale deal and made it an election issue.
At the meeting, Kharge also found support from other Opposition parties on the Rafale issue. Bandopadhyay advised the ruling dispensation that the contentious issues should be dealt with first to avoid disruptions later.
Biju Janata Dal, the fifth-largest party in the House, also wants to pose critical questions to the government. BJD leader Tathagata Satpathy said, “We may not be moving any adjournment motion, but definitely want to ask tough questions on issues that impact the country or Odisha.”
Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal replied to the Opposition demand saying, “As the Prime Minister had said, we are ready to discuss any issue.”
While no leader referred to the election results during the meeting, Shiv Sena leader Anandrao Adsul demanded a debate on the Ayodhya Ram temple issue. A senior BJP MP has already announced that he would be moving a private member’s bill for allowing a Ram Mandir to be built on the disputed site in Ayodhya. BJD’S Bhartruhari Mahtab asked the BJP government to take up the women’s reservation bill.