Congress to raise unemployment, inflation, Manipur in Budget Session

The Congress on Wednesday, 31 January, asserted that it would raise the issues of inflation, unemployment and the Manipur unrest during the Budget Session of Parliament.

The party's strategy for the Budget Session was discussed in a meeting of the Congress parliamentary strategy group chaired by the party's parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other party leaders attended the meeting.

After the meeting, the Congress' deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari, said, "The President of India's address (at the joint sitting of both the Houses ahead of the Budget Session) is usually about the steps that the government will undertake in future; there was no mention of inflation, unemployment, doubling farmer's income and the Manipur issue. We want these issues to be raised."

Congress' chief whip in the Lok Sabha, K. Suresh, said there was detailed discussion on various issues to be raised during the motion of thanks on the President's address as well as during the budget debate.

"There were a number of pro-people issues not mentioned during the President of India's address. The government wants only their business to pass in the House, and (is) not interested in people's issues; but whenever we will get time, we want to raise those issues," he said.

The session began with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint meeting of both the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, 31 January. This will be the last parliamentary session of the present Lok Sabha. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget today, 1 February.