The current winter session of Parliament is heading for a washout unless the political parties (read Congress and the BJP) strike a deal for passage of crucial reform bills. Parliament sessions under the Narendra Modi regime in the last 18 months have not been good. While there seemed some hope at the beginning of the current session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi climbing down and in a rare gesture inviting Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for tea to discuss the GST bill, and the latter responding warmly, now confrontation has overtaken the conciliatory attitude from both sides.

At the beginning of the session, the mood in the Congress was to debate and discuss issues and allow Parliament to function. In fact a Congress strategy meeting last week even decided to counter the government on issues like price rise, black money and so on. This was because of the growing realization that blocking business is not productive as some opposition parties wanted Parliament to function to put the government on the mat.

So what made the Congress change its strategy? Since the National Herald controversy on financial irregularities came up this week involving Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son and vice President Rahul Gandhi, the party is talking of a political vendetta. Apart from this, there are other cases involving Congress leaders including Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela and former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti. There is also under investigation a land grab case involving Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. Although these are legal matters, the Congress would like to give a political colour to the cases.

So the belligerent party has now gone back to the demand for sacking BJP leaders including External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for their alleged role in former IPL chief Lalit Modi getting a visa and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan for the Vyapam case. These issues rocked the monsoon session which ended as a washout.

In the currrent session the Congress has added another demand – sacking the the Minister of State for External Affairs Gen.V.K. Singh for his alleged remarks on Dalits. Resigned to the fact that GST may not be passed this session, the BJP is not ready to oblige the Congress on any of these issues.

It is not surprising that the Congress is supporting the Gandhis to the hilt as it has been doing since Indira Gandhi’s days. For Congressmen, the Gandhis can do no wrong. The same is happening today. Even a court direction that the Gandhis should appear personally in the trial court in the National Herald case is treated as political vendetta. The Prime Minister was right when he remarked this week that by disrupting Parliament, the Opposition was not just blocking the passage of the long-pending Goods and Services Tax Bill but also pro-poor laws.

Secondly, the Gandhis are touchy about their image. Sonia Gandhi even rushed to the well of the house in a rare gesture last session when there was some mention about her sister.

Thirdly, the timing of the court order on the National Herald case has vitiated the atmosphere further. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge argued in the house, “There are two laws in this country — one for the Opposition and the other for the government.”

He said: “Your chief ministers indulge in scams, but there&’s no case against them… If you want to muzzle our voices by suppressing us… you cannot scare us like that.”

However, the Congress is divided as some party MPs ask if it was politically prudent to take a legal battle to Parliament. They are also questioning how long they can sustain it. They are worried about the fact that the BJP is planning to take the fight to the streets after the current session, which may adversely impact the Congress in public perception. Moreover, although the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is warming up and supporting the Gandhis, there&’s not much support from elsewhere in the Opposition.

It is time that the Congress thought out a strategy which is in the interests of the nation. There is no doubt that issues can be resolved by discussion and debate, and if the party feels the government is committing mistakes it should be put on the mat on the floor of the house. Walking out and stalling business in the house is not the answer.

Secondly, most of the crucial reform bills which are in Parliament were originally brought by the Congress. These include the GST and Land Acquisiton legislations. So it would be prudent to support them and also take credit for them instead of playing this tit-for-tat politics that may boomerang.

Thirdly, the Congress has to show that it is a responsible party and can provide constructive cooperation on issues. After all both the Congress and the BJP are on the same page on most economic and foreign policy issues.

The same goes for the Modi government. It is for the government to run Parliament smoothly. Modi should continue the conciliatory approach if he wants the Parliament logjam to end and reach out to the opposition.