Sonia Gandhi chairs meeting of RS lawmakers of Cong, Opposition

Congress Parliamentary Party Chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday chaired a meeting of Rajya Sabha MPs of Congress and other opposition parties at the party office in the Parliament.

The meeting was attended by Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma and other leaders of opposition parties.

Sources said that the leaders of opposition parties formulated collective strategies with Gandhi. Strategies to demand the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill to be sent to a Joint Collective Committee was also devised, sources said.

Gandhi had, on July 23, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government is "hell-bent on completely subverting" the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

She added that Centre may "achieve its aims" through majority, but in the process, it would be disempowering each and every citizen of our country.

Her statement came after the Lok Sabha, after division, on July 22 passed the RTI Bill that allows the Central government to notify the term of office for the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners (ICs).

The Opposition slammed the measure as diluting the provisions of the legislation. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed with 218 members voting in its favour and 79 against it after a reply by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh.

Congress and other opposition parties had staged a walkout after division.