At all-party meeting, Congress MP slams Centre for ‘misuse’ of probe agencies: ‘Unwritten dictatorship’

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Tuesday hit out at the central government over the “misuse” of probe agencies - Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target the opposition leaders. Speaking at the all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the interim Budget session, the Congress MP said the questioning of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in money laundering cases are examples of the “misuse” of power.

“An unwritten dictatorship prevails in the country,” Tiwari told the media.

According to the Congress MP, who represented the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, in the all-party meeting, the grand old party leaders also raised the issue of the “violent attack” on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam.

The floor leaders of various parties attended an all-party meeting chaired by Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi at the Parliament Library building. The meeting was a customary practice ahead of every Parliamentary session wherein the leaders highlight the issues they would want to raise during the Parliament session. At the same time, the ruling government offers a glimpse of its agenda.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh and deputy Parliamentary affairs minister Arjun Ram Meghwal were present at the meeting. From the opposition's side, Congress' K Suresh, TMC's Sudip Bandopadhyay, DMK's T R Baalu, Shiv Sena's Rahul Shewale, Samajwadi Party's S T Hasan, JD(U)'s Ram Nath Thakur, and TDP's Jayadev Galla were among the leaders present at the meeting.

Interim Budget session

The Budget session will begin on Wednesday with the address of President Droupadi Murmu and is likely to conclude on February 9. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 on Thursday. According to Sitharaman, this year's budget would primarily be a “vote on account” before the general elections. During her address earlier, she emphasised that such interim budgets typically do not include significant announcements, and the public will have to await the new government's presentation of the comprehensive budget in July 2024.