Opp will decide on the strategy of Parl today, may skip the entire winter session

New Delhi: The Congress and 13 other parties may consider boycotting the winter session of Parliament as bills to repeal three agriculture laws were passed without debate in both houses, and 12 opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha were suspended on Monday Was.

The boycott of the rest of the winter session, which began on Monday and will go on till December 23, will be one of the options discussed – along with protests and disrupting proceedings – at a meeting of opposition parties on Tuesday morning, keeping people apprised of the developments. Said it done

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not attend the Congress-led meeting. The party’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said it convened a separate meeting to decide its next course of action. Two TMC MPs are also among the 12 MPs who were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the session.

Two opposition strategists told HT that boycotting the session was an option, but that the parties would have to agree to the plan. The plan will also depend on whether opposition parties get a chance to demand legislation to guarantee crop support in Parliament after failing to debate the agriculture bill.

“If we do not get any opportunity to raise the MSP (Minimum Support Price) Act and related issues, we will have no option but to boycott,” a Congress strategist said on the condition of anonymity.

“We will meet tomorrow to decide the future course,” Elaram Karim of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) told HT. “We have received suggestions to boycott the session. But we have to talk to our respective parties before taking any collective decision.

Karim was one of the lawmakers suspended in the last session for alleged unruly conduct. The suspended MPs for the ongoing session include six from Congress, two each from TMC and Shiv Sena and one each from Communist Party of India and CPI. (M).

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will meet other opposition parties on Tuesday morning to discuss the next course of action. A joint statement by 14 political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), said, “The floor leaders of the opposition parties of the Rajya Sabha will meet tomorrow to discuss the future course of action to oppose the authoritarian can be considered. Government decisions and protection of parliamentary democracy. ,

West Bengal’s ruling TMC took an independent stand by breaking away from the Congress and decided to take its own decision. The party did not turn up for Monday’s opposition meeting, which was attended by the TRS for the first time. TRS leader K Keshav Rao has attacked the government over the passage of the Agriculture Repeal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

TMC’s reluctance to attend Congress-led meetings comes in the backdrop of growing distance between the two parties, especially after TMC has victimized several Congress MPs and senior leaders in recent months.

TMC leaders expressed grief over the suspension of their party MPs. He termed the punitive action as unconstitutional and said that the accused were not listened to before they were suspended. TMC leader Derek O’Brien said, “We will have a meeting on Tuesday morning and our future course of action will be decided within the parliamentary process.”

The opposition parties were waiting for a debate on the Agricultural Laws Repeal Bill to emphasize legal backing for the MSP framework. But with the passage of the bill amid an uproar on Monday, they will re-evaluate their chances of discussing any proposed MSP legislation.