Opposition to raise intolerance issue in winter session of parliament

NEW DELHI: Winter session of Parliament beginning next week is set to be a stormy affair with Opposition raring to raise the issue of intolerance in a big way that could overshadow Government's efforts to seek an early passage of key reform measures including GST.

Top sources in the Congress today said that the party has also not given up on its demand for resignation of Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj on the 'Lalitgate' issue and that of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Vyapam scam. The Monsoon Session of Parliament was a virtual washout in the wake of the Congress demand.

In the coming session, those who may face the ire of the Congress may include Union Minister V K Singh over "dog" comment on the killing of two young children from a Dalit family in Haryana.

"The Prime Minister cannot ride roughshod over the Opposition," a senior Congress leader said expressing anger over the way Narendra Modi has treated the Opposition parties on key issues.

On the GST issue, the party has sent a clear signal that it wanted the bill to be passed if the concerns of the party are met.

The leader, who declined to be identified, welcomed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's plans to meet Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi but made it clear that on the issue of the GST, he would have to meet Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is expected to call a meeting next week to work out the party strategy for the upcoming session for which party leaders say that there is no dearth of issues on which the government can be cornered.

This is the first session after the Bihar Assembly elections in which the BJP has faced a rout.