‘Do not try to bulldoze’: Mallikarjun Kharge to PM amid special session buzz

In an interview, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju left open the possibility of another sitting of Parliament, saying the Monsoon Session has not yet been prorogued

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 28, 2026 07:16 AM IST

Loksabha Speaker Om Birla, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others cabinet ministers also Congress president Mallikarjun kharge and Sonia gandhi during pay tribute to Martyrs of 2001 parliament attack at the Parliament house during Winter session in new Delhi on Tuesday

Congress chief Kharge wrote to PM Modi, asking if the Centre plans to convene a special session. (Express file photo by Prem Nath Pandey, enhanced with AI)

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking whether the government plans to hold a special session of Parliament to pass the delimitation Bill and reiterating the demand for an all-party meeting on the issue.

Kharge, who is also the Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition, said he is writing the letter “to reiterate this request (for all-party meeting) since the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (Kiren Rijiju) has publicly stated in a television interview last night that such a special session of Parliament could well be convened”. “This perhaps explains the continued delay in the prorogation of the Monsoon Session itself,” Kharge wrote.

The letter comes days after the Congress questioned why the Lok Sabha had not been prorogued after 10 days of it being adjourned sine die. “What explains the abnormal delay now? Is the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) still in search of his bahukalakit (tarnished) 2/3rd majority to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Delimitation passed in a Special Session,” asked Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh in a post on X.

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Kharge in his letter mentioned an earlier letter on July 16 “requesting you (the PM) to convene an all-party meeting for discussing the government’s proposals for delimitation”. “I had also requested you to give all political parties adequate time to study such proposals in detail before they are introduced in any special session of Parliament that you may be contemplating,” he wrote.

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Kharge said the Congress was “very clear” on its stand on the issue. “Maintain the existing strength of the Lok Sabha at 543 for another 25 years. Maintain the existing state-wise strength in the Lok Sabha for another 25 years. Introduce one-third reservation for women from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections,” wrote Kharge.

I have written to the PM Modi on delimitation, the delay in prorogation of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, and the likely special session mentioned by the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in a television interview last evening.

Sharing the letter — pic.twitter.com/UCFN5LI4WY

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 27, 2026

The Congress chief said it was an issue that had “enormous significance” for the country. “Please do not again try and bulldoze as you attempted on April 16 and 17, 2026,” he wrote.

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In an interview with India Today, Kiren Rijiju said the Monsoon Session has not yet been prorogued, and the House can be summoned again without formally closing the existing session.

“As Parliamentary Affairs minister, I am always open to people’s scrutiny. When the time comes, we will know,” he said during the interview.

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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