The Indian National Congress (INC) will sit
for a meeting on Thursday to discuss issues that the party would raise in the
upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament, starting November 29 and will
continue till December 23.

The meeting of Congress’ parliamentary
strategy group will take place at the residence of party president Sonia
Gandhi. The forthcoming session of the parliament will start in the backdrop of
the revoking of the three contentious farm laws by the Narendra Modi-led Indian
government. However, as farmers continue to stage protests seeking a law for
Minimum Support Prices (MSP), which was not in the repealed farm laws, Congress
may raise the issue and stall the proceeding of the session.

On Monday, Congress general secretary KC
Venugopal said that the matter of increasing price rise of daily commodities
will also be raised by the party in the winter session, as reported by news
agency ANI.

Congress to raise voice for COVID-19
victims

Apart from the MSP and inflation, the
demand to pay Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to the kin of those who died of COVID-19 will
also be discussed in the meeting.

Earlier ANI reported that the Chief
Ministers of Congress-ruled states are planning to write to the Union
Government, seeking compensation to COVID-19 victims. The Congress Legislative
Party (CLP) leaders of every state will also “write to their respective Chief
Ministers in the state” where Congress is not in power, demanding ex gratia for
the relatives of those who died of COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Maharashtra CLP wrote to the
state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, urging him to release ex gratia of Rs
1lakh for the families of COVID-19 victims as per the National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA) norms so that the Centre is compelled to announce
its share of Rs 3lakh for each COVID-19 fatality.

In the letter, the CLP leader noted that
according to the norms of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), 75 per cent
of Rs 4lakh has to be paid by the central government whereas the remaining 25
per cent will be borne by the respective state government.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel
has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the release of the Rs
4lakh compensation to COVID-19 victims’ families. The letter reportedly
mentioned that the Chhattisgarh government is committed to providing Rs 1lakh
from the SDRF fund, and demanded the Centre’s share in the total compensation.
According to ANI, other chief ministers of Congress-ruled states will follow
suit.

Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at Centre

Meanwhile, Congress leader and Wayanad MP
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took a dig at the BJP-led Centre on Twitter over the
lack of compensation to the families of COVID-19 victims.

Sharing a four minutes and thirty seconds long video
featuring families of COVID-19 victims, Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress
party has two demands – one is “revelation of correct figures of COVID-19
related deaths” and second is providing “Rs 4 lakh compensation…to the families
who have lost their loved ones to Covid-19.” “If you’re in power, you’ll have
to eradicate the sufferings of the people. Due compensation should be
provided,” the former Congress president wrote on the micro-blogging site.