INDIA bloc leaders plan to raise MGNREGA, SIR in Parliament

Floor leaders of several INDIA bloc parties met in leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber in Parliament House complex on Wednesday and resolved to strongly raise issues related to MGNREGA and SIR during the ongoing Budget session, sources said.

The meeting was attended by Kharge, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K.C. Venugopal, DMK leader T.R. Baalu, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant, Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan, RJD’s Premchand Gupta, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, RSP’s N.K. Premchandran, among others.

According to sources, the leaders discussed the opposition’s coordinated strategy for the Budget session and agreed to aggressively raise concerns over what they termed the government’s move to repeal or dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), along with the issue of SIR.

The meeting came a day after senior Congress leaders decided to press these issues in Parliament despite the government’s refusal to hold a fresh debate on them. That decision was taken at a meeting of the Congress parliamentary strategy group held on Tuesday at the residence of Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, were among those present at the strategy meeting, which finalised the party’s approach for the Budget session.

Sources said the INDIA bloc aims to maintain pressure on the government by raising MGNREGA and SIR across both Houses of Parliament in the coming days.

With PTI inputs