Cong in touch with all oppn parties, including DMK; govt will not get 2/3rd majority in LS: Ramesh

New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) The Congress is in touch with all opposition parties, including the DMK and AAP, who had voted together to defeat the Constitution amendment bill related to delimitation, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday. He expressed confidence that the government will not be able to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. Ramesh's remarks come amid reports that the government may reintroduce the Constitution amendment bill for operationalising the women's reservation law that would involve delimitation. The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, introduced in the Lok Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah, which seeks to mandate the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and other ministers if they are arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days for serious offences, could also be taken up. Senior Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, deliberated on key issues to be taken up during the Monsoon session. The meeting was held at the 10, Janpath residence of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Ramesh said, "We are in touch with all parties including the DMK who voted with us on the 17th April. We are in touch with all parties, which voted together collectively on the 17th. We are in touch with the DMK; we are in touch with the Aam Aadmi Party." He said one of the pillars of the defeat inflicted on the government was the Samajwadi Party. "We are in touch with the Samajwadi Party, and I can tell you that the top leadership of the Congress Party, which means the Congress president and the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha are in touch," he said. He said they would continue to be in touch because he believed that these parties are fundamentally opposed to the ideology of the BJP and they know that the way delimitation has been done in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir is "very dangerous". The Congress leader further said there is a lot of "cultivation" of news in the media these days which people should not believe. "The reality is that they have a long way to go to secure a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, and there is no scope for achieving it. Nevertheless, let me reiterate -- such a two-thirds majority would be a tainted one. "They desired a two-thirds majority and raised the slogan of 'crossing 400' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections; the public rejected them — they secured 240 seats — and now they are in pursuit of a two-thirds majority," Ramesh said. This is an insult to the public mandate and an insult to the Constitution, he added. Among other Congress leaders who attended the key strategy meeting included AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram, K Suresh, Naseer Hussain, Manickam Tagore, Kumari Selja, Tariq Anwar, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Ramesh, who is the Congress' chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, among others. The opposition INDIA bloc will also hold its strategy meet on July 20 ahead of the start of the session to evolve its joint strategy. The government will meet leaders of various parties on July 19 to discuss various issues to be taken up during the session. The government is likely to bring up crucial legislation, including the Constitution amendment bill on introducing delimitation and increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats. The opposition is also gearing up to take on the government on crucial issues, including the NEET paper leak case and the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, besides raising issues of rising oil prices and the Indo-US trade deal. The Monsoon session of Parliament is starting on July 20 and is likely to continue till August 13. PTI ASK ASK KSS KSS