Congress holds strategy meet for 2nd half of Budget Session, to raise voter list 'manipulation' issue

Senior Congress leaders met in New Delhi Monday evening to deliberate on the party's strategy during the second part of the Budget session, resolving to take up in a big way the voter list manipulation issue and strongly oppose the National Education Policy 2020, sources said. The opposition party will also oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Bill if it comes up for a discussion and passage, and will registers it concerns over delimitation exercise.

Congress' Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, senior leader Shashi Tharoor, among others, attended the meeting at 10, Janpath here.

Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari also attended the meeting.


The leaders also agreed that the party will continue to strongly raise economic issues, including unemployment and price rise.

The meeting came on a the first day of the second half of the Budget Session.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's remarks in the Lok Sabha on Monday criticising the Tamil Nadu government for refusing to implement the National Education Policy drew angry protests from the DMK, disrupting proceedings in the House.

The issues that the Congress would raise during the Budget session include the duplicate voter I-card issue, which the party wants to rake up in a big way, a leader said.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi demanded a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the issue of voter list on which several political parties have raised certain questions.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the entire opposition has been demanding a discussion on the issue of voter list.

The sources said the Congress is also seeking to oppose the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, after the tabling of the report of the joint committee of Parliament that was scrutinising it.

The second part of the Budget session began on March 10 and is scheduled to end on April 4.