Herald case: Govt mulling counter to Cong's campaign

The logjam in Parliament due to Congress protest over National Herald issue today came up for discussion in the Union Cabinet meeting where ministers felt that key legislations including GST Bill should not become casualty and there was a need to counter Opposition campaign.
Union ministers Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the case and the court order asking Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul to appear before it on December 19 and the resultant ruckus in both Houses of Parliament for the last two days created by the main Opposition party.

Sources said that the ministers were unanimous in seeking a robust counter to the campaign of Congress which has attributed political motive behind the case.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is the complainant in the case.
There were concerns that important bills like GST and real estate could get stuck up due to obstructions and there was need to push the legislative agenda of the government despite interruptions.
Before the Cabinet met in the evening, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Naidu held a meeting with some NDA MPs at his residence during which he had indicated a plan to launch a campaign against Congress after the Winter Session to take the message among people about the main Opposition party's bid to "stall" key legislative measures in Rajya Sabha, where the government does not have a majority.

There is a view in the government that Congress stands to gain nothing from the protest on the issue and the more it gets highlighted the more "discomfiture" it could create for the Opposition party.
Government has been attacking Congress for seeking "remedy from Parliament" for "something that happened during a judicial process" and has been suggesting that the main Opposition party was doing it to block the passage of key reform measures including GST, they said.