Sonia, Rahul return to India, likely to attend remainder of Monsoon Session
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have returned to India following health-check. The return of Gandhis will give more ammo to the Opposition, which is already in stand-off with the Centre over farm bills.
New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi returned to India on Tuesday morning. The former underwent a routine health check-up in the United States, sources said.
Gandhis, who had left for US on September 12, have missed major part of the monsoon session of Parliament that began on September 14. But, reports suggest that they are likely to attend the remaining days of Session.
Reports also suggest that Parliament may not continue for long owing to Coronavirus threat and some members turning Covid-19 positive during the session. The Monsoon Session may come to an end, as early as this week. As per schedule, it was about to continue without breaks till October 1.
Meanwhile, amid the continuing stand-off with the Centre, the Opposition parties today boycotted the proceedings of Rajya Sabha.
Opposition is up in arms against the government over suspension of eight lawmakers — Rajeev Satav, Syed Nasir Hussain and Ripun Bora of the Congress, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen of the Trinamool Congress, KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem of the CPI(M) and Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Meanwhile, the Congress has stepped up its attack on government over farm bills issue, as Rahul Gandhi accused Modi govt of propping up crony capitalists while ignoring farmers.
Rahul sarcastically tweeted in Hindi, “Modi ji’s intention is ‘clear'” with his new “anti-agriculture experiment”. Development of crony capitalist “friends” at the cost of farmers.
Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram also attacked the government over the farm bills issue.
“Government has released advertisements defending the farm bills. One line in the advertisement says that ‘One Nation One Market’ will give freedom to the farmers,” he said in a series of tweets.
“Eight-five per cent of farmers are small farmers with little surplus to sell. If they have to sell the few bags of paddy or wheat, they need ‘Many Thousand Markets’ all over the country, not ‘One Market’,” Chidambaram asserted.
Congress to hit streets against anti-farmer policies
From September 24, Congress will hit the streets across the country against the government for passing “anti-farmer and anti-poor” bills in Parliament.
The party is also set to launch a campaign to collect 2 crore signatures from protesting farmers against the proposed legislations.