Monsoon Session Day 2: Rajnath Singh likely to address Parliament on India-China border conflict

The Defence Minister’s statement will assume significance in wake of the continued demand by the Opposition to have a debate on the matter.

Key Highlights

• Singh met his Chinese counterpart Gen Wei Fenghe in Moscow last week on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet

• A few days later, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met at the same platform

• The Union Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs are also expected to meet via video conferencing on Tuesday afternoon

New Delhi: With the Monsoon Session of the Parliament already in motion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh could on Tuesday make a statement in the Parliament on the ensuing military standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual in eastern Ladakh.

Sources in the Parliament said that the Defence Minister’s statement will assume significance in wake of the continued demand by the Opposition to have a debate on the matter.

Singh met his Chinese counterpart Gen Wei Fenghe in Moscow last week on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet, just a few days before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met at the same platform.

The Union Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs are also expected to meet via video conferencing on Tuesday afternoon.

During the Monsoon Session that began on Monday, the Opposition is planning to corner the central government over the Ladakh standoff and its handling of the issue with China, the Covid-19 situation in the country, the economic slowdown and growing unemployment, among many others.

The Congress and other Opposition parties had raised these demands in the first business advisory committee (BAC) meeting for Lok Sabha, which was chaired by Speaker Om Birla on Sunday, but they have not been allocated time for these discussions yet, news agency PTI reported.

The Congress had also raised similar demands in the BAC for Rajya Sabha.

The BAC meet will be held on Tuesday afternoon as well to further the discussion on the first week’s schedule.