Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday rued the fact that she made futile efforts to reach out to bigger Opposition parties like Congress, TMC and DMK on taking up several issues jointly despite she being part of a few meetings of the Opposition bandwagon in recent times.
“Till the time the Opposition will not unite, the Government will continue to benefit,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal said talking to media after leading a delegation of seven political parties to submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind to request him to direct the Government to allow discussion in the Parliament over range of public issues including snooping and the controversial farm laws.
“We, a delegation of MPs representing seven political parties, met and apprised the President of the undemocratic stonewalling of two serious issues in Parliament –farm laws and Pegasus Spyware. We also urged him to constitute a Joint Select Committee to resolve these issues,” Badal said.
Apart from Badal, the delegation comprised members from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC).
The decision to approach the President was taken last week which also saw presence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament premises. Congress however did not become a signatory to the memorandum due to political difference in Punjab which goes to polls early next year.
Speaking to the media, the Shiromani Akali Dal leader pointed out that she approached leaders
from Congress, TMC and DMK to raise the issues together, but no one bothered to show up.
“Five hundred farmers lost their lives amid the ongoing protests against the Centre’s farm laws. A joint committee should be formed to sort out this issue.” said Badal who quit from Modi Council of Ministers last year to protest the controversial agriculture bills that was brought and passed in Parliament.
The ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament has seen continuous protests by the Opposition over the farm laws as well as the
Pegasus spyware controversy, leading to disruptions and adjournments of both the Houses.
Protests against the farm laws have been going on since late last year, with agitating farmers calling for their repeal and a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP).