Parliament Monsoon Session likely to be ‘stormy’ as Congress set to corner government

The upcoming Parliament Monsoon Session is expected to be stormy, with the main Opposition party Congress expected to raise issues ranging from the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

A week ahead of the session, which kicks off on July 21 and will run till August 21, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday had called a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategy group.

The meeting was attended by senior party leaders in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The party insiders said the Congress has already said it wants the Bihar SIR to be scrapped, alleging that it is “unconstitutional” and is aimed at disenfranchising voters. The sources said the party is also likely to seek answers from the government on what it claims were “lapses and losses” during Operation Sindoor and the circumstances that led to the cessation of hostilities following US President Donald Trump’s claims of mediation in the India-Pakistan conflict.

Besides, they said the issue of US tariffs against India is also likely to be taken up during the discussions, in addition to the state of the economy, prices and unemployment.

The impeachment motion against Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court is also likely to come up in the Rajya Sabha Chairman. The government needs the Opposition’s support to push the impeachment motion against justice Yashwant Verma who is facing allegations of a cash haul from his residence in Delhi in March. To pass an impeachment motion, the proposal has to be supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-third of the members of the House present and voting.

The Congress will speak to other Opposition parties to evolve a joint plan of action for the Monsoon Session, sources said.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha leader of the Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that a number of strategic, foreign policy, political and socio economic issues must be debated to run the session smoothly.

Kharge’s demands came after he met Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday at the latter’s residence.

The Opposition, he said, is keen on ensuring a productive session. The month-long session is scheduled to commence on July 21.

“The Opposition wants a productive Rajya Sabha session from July 21st. For that to happen, a number of strategic, political, foreign policy and socio-economic issues that are of great public concern need to be debated and discussed,” Kharge said in a post on social media platform X following the meeting.

India