New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday skipped the meeting of INDIA bloc members at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber. This was apparently because the Mamata Banerjee-led party wanted to send a message to Congress that it didn’t support the grand old party’s one-point agenda of disrupting the Parliament only over the Adani indictment issue.
According to sources in TMC, the party wanted to raise other key issues in Parliament, including rising prices, slowing GDP, growing unemployment, funds crunch, the violence in Bangladesh, and the Manipur unrest. Sources said Congress is focused only on the Adani issue, which is why Trinamool did not attend today’s INDIA floor leaders’ meeting.
The TMC is the only party in the INDIA bloc that does not have an electoral alliance with Congress. Therefore, the party believes that it is not obliged to attend any meeting of the bloc if it’s stance is overlooked or given a short shrift.
Since the Adani indictment issue has cropped up, the Congress has been calling for all business in the House to be suspended for a discussion on the US Department of Justice indictment against directors of Adani Green. On Monday, Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave an Adjournment Motion notice to discuss the Adani issue.
But the other partners of INDIA bloc have been demanding discussions on a range of important issues, including the Sambhal violence, Cyclone Fengal fallout, the arrest of ISKCON monks in Bangladesh and delay in paddy procurement in Punjab.
INDIA bloc members strongly feel that Rahul’s ‘obsession’ with Adani indictment issue could result in complete washout of the Winter session of Parliament, and thus public issues could remain untouched and unattended. The BJP may escape accountability on key issues, they feel.
‘We will give priority to issues of Bengal first’
Pandemonium and adjournments have affected Parliamentary proceedings for several days. The Winter session is scheduled to draw to an end on December 20. Earlier, Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had said that TMC will prioritise issues of Bengal during the Winter Session. “We will give priority to the issues of Bengal first. The Centre has blocked Bengal’s dues. We want discussions in Parliament on these issues.”
Senior TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had pointed out that the party does not want disruptions in the Parliament. “We want Parliament to run. We don’t want to disrupt the House on just one issue. We will hold this government accountable on multiple counts,” she had said.
