Congress looks to ‘expose’ govt
Oppn party says motion is more than a show of numbers and it will use the opportunity to highlight govt ‘failures’
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will lead the opposition’s charge against the government over its “failure on all fronts over the past 50 months” during the day-long debate on the no-confidence motion on Friday.
With numbers not on its side, the Congress hopes to expose the “fault lines” within the ruling National Democratic Alliance and also those who have been critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but continue to support its “misdeeds”.
On the eve of the no-confidence vote, the Congress on Thursday said the motion was more than a show of numbers and claimed all the 12 opposition parties are united.
“This is the launch of a campaign which will send them packing in 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters.
He said the opposition parties will highlight various issues concerning the people and ensure that the truth reaches them.
“It is not only a question of numbers. We will use the occasion to expose the government and raise various issues concerning the people of the country and tell the truth to the people. It is to show the mirror to the government,” Sharma said.
Apart from Gandhi, the other two speakers from the Congress would be its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and chief whip, Jyotiraditya Scindia. The party has been given 38 minutes of the total seven-hour-long debate.
On Thursday, the principal opposition party issued a threeline whip to its members, asking them to be present in the Lok Sabha on Friday during the no-confidence motion.
The Congress will use the opportunity to attack the government on issues like mob lynchings, job losses, agrarian crisis, state of the economy, women’s safety, price rise, Jammu and Kashmir and demonetization.
It will also target the government over “shoddy implementation” of the goods and services tax, “failure” to set up the anticorruption watchdog, Lokpal, bank frauds and the escape of Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choks — who are all wanted for suspected economic offences — from the country apart from alleged attacks on Dalits.
Sharma said Parliament is the place where issues are discussed and debated and “that is where you expose” the government.
He alleged that the Prime Minister and his government “believe in propaganda” and are unaware of the problems confronting the country and its people. “The Prime Minister is at best a demagogue and believes in hypocrisy.”
Apart from its main demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh, the opposition parties have also asked the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to raise issues such as lynchings and communal violence to present a united front against the government.
The leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad held a discussion with Opposition leaders, who agreed that the TDP should reciprocate their support to its no-trust motion by mentioning the issues raised by them.