Govt yet to divulge Parliament special session agenda, Sonia set to write to Modi, flag issues

An Opposition leader, however, insisted that “it will neither be a joint letter nor on behalf of the INDIA alliance. It will be written by the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson on her letterhead.”

In the letter, Sonia will flag issues such as price-rise, unemployment, the situation in Manipur, fresh revelations in the Adani saga, the border standoff with China, and the “attack on the federal structure”, it is learnt.

Sources said there is unanimity among the opposition parties on raising these issues in the House during the special session.

With the idea of one nation, one election and the India-Bharat political row dominating the discourse, the Congress wanted to set a counter-narrative since the government is yet to spell out the agenda of the five-day session starting September 18.

The Congress Parliamentary strategy group met at Sonia’s 10, Janpath residence. Besides Kharge, K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Gaurav Gogoi were present. Later, leaders of the INDIA bloc met at Kharge’s residence. Sources said the India-Bharat issue came up for discussion at both meetings.

The Opposition meeting was attended, among others, by TMC leader Derek O’Brien, DMK’s T R Baalu, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut, NCP’s Supriya Sule, RJD’s Manoj Jha, JD(U)’s Lallan Singh, CPI’s Binoy Viswam, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav, and AAP’s Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha.

Kharge said, “The government is convening a special session for the first time without spelling out the agenda. No one from any Opposition party has been consulted or informed. This is not the way to run a democracy.”