16 hours in LS, 9 hrs in RS: Debate on Operation Sindoor in Parliament likely next week

New Delhi: Amid the government-Opposition showdown on the first day of the Monsoon session, the Centre is learnt to have agreed to a debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

According to top sources, both Houses of Parliament will have a marathon debate on the contentious issues next week – with Lok Sabha allocating 16 hours and Rajya Sabha nine hours for the same.

The Opposition has been insisting on debate at the onset of the Monsoon session, that too in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The agreement for next week was apparently reached as PM Modi is leaving for a two-nation trip on July 23 and will be back home only by the weekend.

For quite some time, issues like security lapse in J&K’s Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor and US President Donald Trump’s alleged intervention in brokering truce have been the major points of contention between Congress-led Opposition and the government.

As the Monsoon Session commenced this morning, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge pressed for discussion on the ‘burning issues’ and demanded that the government earmark two days for debating them, followed by a reply from the Prime Minister.

“Two months ago, we demanded a special session. Now that we are meeting, we want a two-day debate on the Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor, security lapses, and Foreign Policy,” LoP in Rajya Sabha Kharge said.

Kharge, speaking in the Upper House, said that the security lapses in Pahalgam have been acknowledged by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, and the government must clarify its stand on the issue, given the fact that the perpetrators of the ghastly massacre remain on the run even after three months.

He also demanded that the government clarify its stand on Trump’s repeated assertions that it was due to US intervention that the military face-off was stopped.

Responding to Kharge, the Leader of the House and senior BJP Leader J P Nadda said that the government is ready to hold a detailed discussion on the issue and is “not running away” from any debate.

As the Opposition MPs, including Congress MPs, moved adjournment notices seeking immediate discussion while keeping aside all listed business, aside, the House chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar also assured the agitating members that he will facilitate a full-fledged debate on the issue.

IANS