The logjam in Parliament due to Congress protest over National Herald issue came up for discussion in the Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday where ministers felt that key legislations including the Goods and Services Tax Bill should not become the casualty and there was a need to counter the Opposition's campaign.
Union ministers Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the case and the court order asking Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul to appear before it on December 19 and the resultant ruckus in both Houses of Parliament for the last two days created by the main opposition party.
Sources said that the ministers were unanimous in seeking a robust counter to the campaign of the Congress which has attributed political motive behind the case.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy is the complainant in the case.
There were concerns that important bills like GST and real estate could get stuck up due to obstructions and there was need to push the legislative agenda of the government despite interruptions.
Before the Cabinet met on Wednesday evening, Naidu held a meeting with some National Democratic Alliance MPs at his residence during which he had indicated a plan to launch a campaign against the Congress after the winter session to take the message among people about the main opposition party’s bid to ‘stall’ key legislative measures in the Rajya Sabha, where the government does not have a majority.
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.
The government has been attacking the 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 the GST, they said.
