“The Prime Minister who sought the mandate solely in his name to the exclusion of both his party and its allies has suffered a political and worse, a moral defeat.In reality, he has lost the mandate he sought and thereby lost the right to leadership as well,” said Sonia during the extended CWC meeting on Saturday.
“Yet, far from taking responsibility for failure, he intends to get himself sworn in again. We do not expect him to change the substance and style of his governance, nor take cognizance of the will of the people,” she added.
She emphasised the Congress Parliamentary Party’s duty to monitor and hold the government accountable.
“That is why, as members of the CPP, we have a special obligation to be watchful, vigilant and proactive in holding him and his new NDA government accountable.”
She stressed the importance of Parliament functioning properly and fairly.
“No longer can and should Parliament be bulldozed like it has been for a decade now. No longer will the writ of the ruling establishment be permitted to disrupt Parliament, whimsically mistreat members or push through legislation without due and proper consideration and debate. No longer can and should Parliamentary Committees be ignored or bypassed like they have been since 2014.”
“No longer will Parliament be muzzled and stifled as it has been over the past ten years,” she added.
PM Modi will take the oath of office at 7:15 PM on Sunday, along with his council of ministers, in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) passed a resolution to elect PM Modi as their leader unanimously on June 5. With today’s swearing-in, Modi will join former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as one of the few leaders to be elected for a third straight term after completing the full tenure of each term.
BJP secured 240 seats, with NDA gathering a total of 292 seats out of 543 Lok Sabha seats, to form the government. Congress, part of the INDIA bloc, succeeded in preventing BJP from attaining a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha.