The Congress party is facing the danger of getting isolated in Parliament because of its stand over a Delhi Court’s summon to party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.
Congress MPs have paralysed both Houses for four days now terming it a ‘political vendetta’ after the court asked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on December 19 over BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s lawsuit which has accused them of financial wrongdoing to take control of the National Herald newspaper.
A senior Member of Parliament from one of the non-NDA parties, who is aware of the developments behind the scene, told The Financial Express, “Congress party appears to be getting isolated in Parliament as it is only TMC that is supporting it, and parties like SP, NCP, CPM, BJD, and even JD(U) and RJD, are not inclined to derail parliamentary work completely over the judicial matter”.
He, however, pointed out this doesn’t mean that the GST Bill could be passed in the ongoing winter session, which is slated to end on December 23, adding that, “the question will arise only when the Rajya Sabha is allowed to function”.
In any case, without Congress party’s support, it will be difficult to get it passed in the upper house.
The chances of any breakthrough in passing critical reform Bills are now remote with Sonia Gandhi brushing aside the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dig at the disruption in Parliament that democracy cannot function at the whims and fancies of anyone.
In fact, the whole episode has almost wiped out the possibilities of finding a workable solution to pass GST and other Bills that emerged after PM Modi met Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh over tea before the beginning of the winter session.
Even though the BJP seems to be having a political edge in Parliament over Congress party, as this is not going to change the outcome in terms of getting the legislative business done, it doesn’t bode well for economic reforms in the country, and what happens in the remaining days of the current session will be crucial in this regard.
It will be interesting to see how the Congress party deals with the threat of getting isolated in this battle and the temptation to intensify the fight mode to gain sympathy.