Rahul invites Opposition MPS to discuss Parliament strategy

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called a breakfast meeting of Opposition leaders on Tuesday morning to discuss the strategy on the Pegasus spyware issue. Leaders from the National Congress Party (NCP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India (Marxist), among others, are expected to attend the meeting.

The meeting will be in line with Mr Gandhi’s recent efforts to mobilise the Opposition on the Pegasus row to ensure the issue is discussed in both Houses of Parliament. Sources have also said that the Opposition MPs will take out a protest march and walk to the Parliament.

The Opposition has been demanding a discussion in Parliament on the Pegasus snooping row and its leaders have been giving adjournment notices every day. The government has been saying that the Opposition is creating a "non-issue" and the information & technology minister has already given a reply in both Houses of Parliament.

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have failed to transact any significant business, except passage of some bills, amid continued protests by Opposition parties over the Pegasus and farmers' issues since the Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 19. The session is scheduled to conclude on August 13.

A section of the Opposition parties feel that since the Pegasus issue will be taken up by the Supreme Court on Thursday, the Opposition should insist on a discussion on farm laws and rising prices. The breakfast meeting is supposed to discuss this issue too. Some parties feel that a narrative is being built that the Opposition is interested in stalling Parliament rather than discussion and this narrative needs to be challenged. Last week too, after the Opposition meeting, all the Opposition leaders were at pains to explain their position regarding the functioning of the House.