Denied China Discussion, Rahul Gandhi Walks Out Of Defence Panel Meet: Sources

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and some of his parliamentary colleagues walked out of a Defence Committee meeting after they were not allowed to discuss border issues with China, sources have said.

The meeting was scheduled at 3 pm on Wednesday, they said. A request by Mr Gandhi and the Congress MPs to discuss the border row with China was denied, after which he walked out of the Defence Committee meeting, followed by his party MPs.

In the parliament strategy meet chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress has decided to raise the border issue with China in the coming monsoon session of parliament.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been asked to coordinate with allies on floor management and strategy inside parliament, sources have said. The Congress wants to raise fuel price hike issue, inflation, vaccine shortage, unemployment and the Rafale deal controversy, apart from border issues with China, during the monsoon session.

Mr Gandhi has long been criticising the government alleging India has "ceded" territory to China. Indian and Chinese soldiers had clashed in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley in June last year.

After a nine-month standoff, the militaries of India and China in February this year reached an agreement on disengagement in the north and south banks of Pangong lake that mandates both sides to cease forward deployment of troops in a "phased, coordinated and verifiable" manner.

India has not "conceded" any territory to China by firming up an agreement on the disengagement process in Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh, the government had said in February.