“Centre has kept our country in dark…”: Gaurav Gogoi ahead of special session of Parliament

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday criticized the BJP-led government, asserting that it has kept the nation uninformed as it is not disclosing the agenda for the upcoming special session of Parliament scheduled to be held from September 18 to 22.
Addressing a press conference, Gaurav Gogoi said, “Today a meeting of our Parliamentary Strategic Committee was held under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi and the leadership of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Important issues were discussed that the country is facing today. There was discussion about inflation, unemployment, Manipur and natural disaster in Himachal Pradesh.”
“Special session of Parliament has been called from September 18 but BJP itself is not able to tell what is the agenda of the session. The BJP has kept the country in the dark on this .This government is not transparent and responsible towards the country. BJP is not able to clear what will be the agenda for the session. Our principle is that there should be discussion in the House on the important issues of the country. Congress Party is ready to discuss and give suggestions on these issues,” he added. 
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the upcoming session of Parliament was called to divert the attention from the INDIA meeting in Mumbai and further attacked the BJP by mentioning that they won’t listen to ‘Modi Chalisa’ for 5 days. 

“We are seeing for the first time that PM Modi and his associates announced a 5-day special session to divert attention from the INDIA meeting. If you look at the Parliament bulletin they have mentioned all 5 days for government business. We don’t have any information as to what matters will be taken up during this session. Today the Congress party has decided that we will participate in this special session, but discussion should be done on people’s issues,” the Congress leader said. 
Earlier today Congress held a Parliamentary strategy group meeting ahead of the Parliament special session starting from September 18. The meeting was held at the residence of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.  
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday informed about the five-day special session of Parliament from September 18-22. The agenda for the special session, however, was not revealed yet.
The Centre on Saturday constituted an eight-member committee to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.
The members of the committee, apart from former President Kovind, include Union Home Minister Amit Shah; Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad; former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament, which concluded last month, was held in the old Parliament building. The announcement of the Special Session came as a surprise in political circles with the parties gearing up for assembly polls in five states later this year.
Indicating his party’s readiness to cooperate with the government during the special session, Jairam Ramesh stated that the Congress party intends to have a comprehensive discussion on various challenges confronting the country, encompassing social, economic, political, and diplomatic issues.