NEW DELHI: With Congress disrupting Parliament over National Herald case, NDA plans to launch a massive campaign against it after Winter Session to take the message among people about the main Opposition party's bid to "stall" key legislative measures in Rajya Sabha, where the government does not have a majority.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu held a meeting with MPs from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir at his residence today in this regard where he told the members that the NDA partners will take up a campaign among the people to highlight this matter after the Winter session of Parliament, official sources said.
There is a view in the government that Congress stands to gain nothing from the protest on the issue and the more it gets highlighted the more "discomfiture" it could create for the Opposition party.
Government has been attacking Congress for seeking "remedy from Parliament" for "something that happened during a judicial process" and has been suggesting that the main Opposition party was doing it to block the passage of key reform measures including GST, they said.
Naidu's meeting is a part of series of meetings that 21 Ministers are holding with NDA MPs from different States and Union Territories on the matters relating to Parliament and development issues.
Referring to the recent debate on redefining the role of Rajya Sabha in the context of the government's legislative proposals not being allowed to be passed, Naidu alleged that Congress party "desperately seeking to stall" socio-economic development of the country with the objective of showing the NDA Government in poor light. Accusing Congress party of "placing hurdles" in Modi government's functioning, he referred to the ongoing obstructionism in the upper house raised by some MPs.
Naidu noted that "rattled" by the observations of Delhi High Court in the National Herald case, Congress is resorting to making Parliament "dysfunctional".
"And if this is persisted with, NDA partners will take up a campaign among the people after the Winter session of Parliament," he said in the meeting, according to Government sources.
MPs raised the issues relating to effective functioning of Parliament, allotting more time to members of NDA allies, political tactics of Congress including stalling Parliament, local issues of development and central government schemes.
The NDA MPs said the introduction of GST significantly benefits the common man by streamlining taxes, promoting transparency and giving a boost to business and economic activities. They suggested that benefits of GST need to be explained to the people through informed debates in the media and direct communication.
13 MPs from the two states, who attended the meeting included Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur and Jitendra Singh besides SAD MP Naresh Gujral.
Speaking separately, Naidu said that instead of fighting in Parliament, Congress should take good advice of lawyers butadvised it to "beware" its own party of lawyers.