The bitter Gujarat poll campaign is set to cast its shadow over Parliament's Winter Session starting tomorrow with the Congress today insisting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's apology for his claim that his predecessor Manmohan Singh colluded with Pakistan to influence the election.
Congress leaders raised the issue at an all party meeting held on the session eve during which Modi, who joined the deliberations later, sought opposition parties' cooperation for a meaningful session and also asked them to evolve a consensus on holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar later told reporters that the government was willing to debate all issues raised by the opposition and added that the latter should also help it in conducting its business, including passage of key bills.
The government is expected to table 25 pending bills and 14 new ones, including a bill providing Muslim women the right to seek maintenance in case of triple talaq.
Another key bill will be granting constitutional status to the backward castes commission. The bill was stalled in the Rajya Sabha by the opposition in the last session.
With both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha likely to be adjourned tomorrow till Monday after paying tributes to their members who passed away during the inter-session period, the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh poll results could have a bearing on the session.
The results are scheduled to be announced on Monday.
A respectable performance by the Congress will energise opposition ranks and embolden it in its fight against the BJP, which may be left dispirited by any poor show in Modi's and its chief Amit Shah's home turf.
However, a favourable outcome for the BJP will blunt whatever strategy its rival may plan against it in Parliament and encourage the saffron party to turn the heat on the Congress and other opposition parties.
Congress leaders, however, insisted that they will corner the government over a host of issues "irrespective" of the results.
Its leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that his party will raise the issue of Modi's attack on Singh besides the short tenure of the session which will have 14 sittings. The winter session in 2016 had 21 work days.
"We will be satisfied with nothing short of an apology," his Rajya Sabha colleague Anand Sharma told reporters after the all party meeting.
Azad said the government should either show evidence to support Modi's charge against Singh or action should be taken against the prime minister for levelling false allegations. The Congress had spoken to other opposition parties over the issue as well, he said.
Kumar parried queries on the demand made by the Congress and insisted that the government was willing to debate all matters raised by opposition parties.
"Running House is their (opposition) responsibility too," he said.
"We have appealed for their cooperation. Parliament's productivity has risen in the last three-and-a-half years and it should continue," he said.
Opposition members, who outnumber the BJP-led NDA alliance in the Rajya Sabha, may also find the going harder for them in the Upper House as its Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has made his displeasure clear with raucous protests it often witnesses. Naidu will preside over the Rajya Sabha for the first time after being elected as Vice President in August.
He had recently pitched for "automatic suspension" of members who rush to the well of the House to disrupt proceedings and said their names should be put in the public domain.
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