New Delhi: As the opposition comes together to decide on strategy for the upcoming budget discussions on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi Faced with unanimous demands from his allies, he should start the debate, if only to retaliate against the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has refused to let him speak for seven consecutive days. The demand was led by DMK’s TR Baalu and supported by others. But Rahul refused.He argued that if he spoke out, he would provoke opposition from Treasury lawmakers. The ensuing turmoil will deprive every opposition party of its opportunity to speak. He stressed that all regional parties had important issues to raise and they should not fall prey to the BJP’s “organized sabotage”. The move won some support, with critics allied to Rahul Gandhi later describing it as a “generous” move.The meeting was attended by MPs Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, Naseer Hussain and Manickam Tagore, Ramgopal Yadav (SP), NK Premachandran (RSP), Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant (SS), John Brittas (CPM), PC Gupta (RJD), Shatabdi Roy (TMC), ET Mohd Basheer (IUML), Rajaram Singh (CPI-ML), etc.This was how the plan was finalized, with the party insisting that Shashi Tharoor initiate the discussions. Gandhi will deliver a speech on the Budget on Wednesday.When the leaders of the Indian bloc met in Haq’s conference hall to brainstorm the way forward, the allies decided to end the deadlock. If Gandhi remains unable to speak, they will file a planned notice of no-confidence against Speaker Om Birla and then proceed with the deadlocked business. Had Gandhi allowed it, the notification would not have been submitted. The Lok Sabha is now expected to hold normal proceedings.
