Congress to raise Ram temple donation issue in Parliament; vows to defeat Constitution amendment bills

New Delhi, Jul 16 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday said it will strongly oppose Constitution amendment bills related to delimitation and removal of ministers and chief ministers, if taken up during the upcoming Parliament session, while also vowing to corner the government on critical issues, including the Ram temple donation-theft case. Senior leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday deliberated on key issues to be taken up during the session. The meeting was held at the 10, Janpath residence of Sonia Gandhi. Others who attended the key strategy meeting included Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, the party's chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, P Chidambaram, K Suresh, Naseer Hussain, Manickam Tagore, Kumari Selja, Tariq Anwar, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari. The Monsoon Session of Parliament is scheduled to start from July 20 and conclude on August 13. In a post on X, Kharge said, "Chanda Chori -- Astha se Dhoka, paper leaks and the systemic corrosion of education system, institutional capture, breaking of political parties, multiple scams and charges of corruption, backbreaking price rise, foreign policy failures and strategic blunders, the imposition of ethanol blending on 3.5 crore vehicle owners, unbridled deforestation and the continued assault on the rights of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities are among the critical issues on which the Congress party will hold the Modi government accountable during the forthcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament." These pressing concerns affecting the lives and aspirations of people were deliberated upon during the meeting, Kharge said. Addressing a press conference here after the meeting, Ramesh said, "We have learnt that the Union home minister (Amit Shah) is making efforts to bring back the Delimitation Bill. The government failed to secure a two-thirds majority on April 17 and suffered a significant setback. It now wants to reintroduce the Bill." This was discussed, along with the Constitution amendment bill that seeks the removal of ministers in custody for 30 days over serious offences, he said. "The Congress party has consistently maintained that it will strongly oppose the Delimitation Bill and will continue to do so. We will also make every effort to maintain the unity and solidarity of all opposition parties. Similarly, we will firmly oppose the proposed Constitution amendment bill related to the removal of ministers," he said. The "One Nation, One Election" issue, on which a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has been formed, was also discussed, Ramesh said. "We will also oppose the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill in its entirety. It is possible that the Bill may be introduced during this session. There is also a possibility that the FCRA Amendment Bill will be introduced. We will oppose it as well. We had opposed it earlier, following which the government withdrew the Bill. However, we are now hearing that it may be brought back," the Congress leader added. Another important issue discussed was the proposed amendments to the National Food Security Act, 2013, which forms the basis of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. "We are completely opposed to these proposed amendments and if the Bill is introduced during this session, we will strongly oppose it. As far as the legislative agenda is concerned, I do not see any Bill before us that we can support," Ramesh said. The Congress is strongly opposed to the two Constitution amendment bills, he said. "We have demanded several times that women's reservation be implemented on the current strength of the Lok Sabha and if the government is willing to do that, we will support it," the Congress leader said. The home minister has "split parties" and is looking to secure a two-thirds majority by "cunningness", which would be an insult to the Constitution, he said, adding that such a majority would be a "blot on democracy". The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, will not be able to get a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, Ramesh asserted. "Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge are in touch with all parties that had supported us on April 16-17 in defeating the government's Delimitation Bill," he said. "Then there is the NEET issue, concerning both the examination and education systems. On Friday, Rahulji will hold the second 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' public meeting in Dehradun, where he will interact with students. You may recall his interaction with students in Kota on June 17, the Dehradun rally is part of that same series of events," Ramesh said. Thirdly, there is the "E20 scam", in which several senior BJP leaders and their sons have been implicated, he claimed, adding that the Congress will certainly demand a discussion on this. He further said that challenges facing India's foreign policy, including ties with China, the United States and West Asia, would also be raised by the opposition. The INDIA opposition bloc will hold its strategy meet on Monday, ahead of the start of the session, to evolve its joint strategy. The government will meet the leaders of various political parties on Sunday to discuss issues to be taken up during the session. The government is likely to bring up crucial legislation, including a Constitution amendment bill on introducing delimitation and increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats, besides one pertaining to the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and Union ministers on being jailed. PTI ASK/SKC RC