‘Raincoat’ barb: Opposition may boycott PM when Parliament convenes for remaining Budget Session
NEW DELHI : Congress-led Opposition seems to be in no mood to spare the NDA government over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s raincoat jibe against his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh recently.
A Times of India report said on Friday that with Parliament going into recess, the Congress party has now begun efforts to bring like-minded opposition parties on board to boycott the Prime Minister during the remainder of the Budget Session resuming on March 9.
Several opposition parties, including Congress has demanded that Modi must “introspect and express regret” for his “raincoat” barb on Manmohan Singh.Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, had told reporters, “The last chapter of the story scripted by the PM will be written by the Opposition.”
Importantly, Congress, TMC, SP, JDU, DMK and Left parties held a close door meeting yesterday to chalk out strategy and are likely to consult again in the inter-session period.
While it was the last day of the pre-recess session, the parties appear eager to carry on their protest in the second half. In what sounded ominous for the government, Sharma said Congress will adopt a uniform stance for both Houses.
However, the trajectory of the March session will be dictated by the outcome of the ongoing elections to five states on March 11, just two days after Parliament reconvenes.
A victory for the ruling camp would automatically temper the mood in the Opposition, which includes UP players like SP, BSP and Congress, but a defeat for BJP is likely to see the anti-saffron bloc go for the Modi regime’s jugular.
The BJP, meanwhile, has hit back and demanded an apology from the Congress-led Opposition for disrespecting the PM and not upholding the sanctity of the Parliament.
