NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament, the Congress on Sunday appointed Gaurav Gogoi as the deputy leader in Lok Sabha, senior Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh as the chief whip, and Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore and Kishanganj MP Mohammad Jawed as whips in the lower House.
Announcing the decision, AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said on X that Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla informing him about the appointment of the deputy leader, chief whip, and two whips for the Congress party in the Lok Sabha.
The party has retained Gogoi, the MP from Assam’s Jorhat constituency, as the Lower House’s deputy leader. Suresh, an eight-time MP from Kerala, has also retained his position as the party’s chief whip in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Of the two whips named, Tagore is a three-time MP, while Jawed is a two-time MP from Bihar’s Kishanganj seat. In a rare election to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post, the Opposition INDIA bloc had fielded Kerala MP Suresh against the ruling NDA’s Birla.
Earlier, the party had named Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition, who was subsequently appointed to the post.
Congratulating the new appointees, Venugopal said, “Guided by LoP Rahul Gandhi, the Congress, and the INDIA parties will energetically champion people’s causes in the Lok Sabha”. The Budget session of Parliament, scheduled from July 22-August 12, is expected to be stormy as the Opposition asserts that it will raise crucial issues such as unrest in Manipur, irregularities in NEET, and the Agniveer scheme among others.
Party counters PM’s Rs 8 crore jobs’ remark
Countering the Prime Minister’s claims of creating eight crore jobs in four years, the Congress on Sunday accused him of spinning a “web of lies”. In an X post, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) hasn’t conducted a single exam after it was set up in 2020.