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After a bill to repeal three farm laws was passed in both Houses without debate and 12 opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha were suspended on Monday, the Congress and 13 other parties may consider boycotting the winter session of Parliament.
People familiar with the situation claimed that boycotting the rest of the winter session, which began on Monday and will end on December 23, will be addressed at a meeting of opposition parties on Tuesday morning, along with continuing protests and interrupting proceedings.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not be present in the meeting convened by Congress. Derek O’Brien, the party’s Rajya Sabha leader, said the party scheduled a separate meeting to consider its future line of action. Two TMC MPs were among the 12 Rajya Sabha members that were suspended for the balance of the session.
Two opposition strategists told HT that boycotting the session is a possibility, but that both parties must agree to the plan. After failing to debate the agriculture bill, the strategy will also be dependent on whether opposition parties get a chance to demand legislation guaranteeing crop assistance in Parliament.
”We would be left with no other choice but to boycott if we don’t get an opportunity to raise the MSP (minimum support prices) law and related issues,” a Congress strategist said on condition of anonymity.
“We will meet tomorrow to decide the future course,” Elamaram Kareem of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) told HT. “We have received suggestions to boycott the session. But we have to talk to our respective parties before talking any collective decision.”
Kareem was one of the MPs that were suspended for allegedly misbehaving during the previous session. Six Congress MPs are suspended for the current session, two each from the TMC and Shiv Sena, and one each from the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (M).
Opposition parties were looking forward to a debate on the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, which would give the MSP framework legal legitimacy. They will reassess their possibilities to discuss any suggested MSP law now that the bill was enacted in a storm on Monday.