The Congress Working Committee met here on Friday to deliberate on the government's move to amend the women's reservation law, the proposed delimitation exercise and the West Asia conflict.
The meeting, chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, among others.
The meeting, held at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters, comes days ahead of the three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the government will bring bills to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, with 273 reserved for women.
The Union Cabinet is learnt to have cleared on Wednesday draft bills which seek to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats.
The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the proposal to amend the women's quota law for its early implementation as a poll issue.
The opposition party alleged last week that the government had called a "special session" of Parliament to pass bills related to amending the women's quota law and delimitation to "grab political mileage" in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu polls, which, it claimed, was a "gross violation" of the model code of conduct.
Asserting that the government's push for a rushed delimitation exercise would have "dangerous consequences", Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh had said, "We do not want any disturbance in the present differentials and relative strength."
The Congress also cautioned against any haste in amending the Constitution regarding delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, saying it is a sensitive matter and the government must tread carefully as the exercise might put several states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala at a significant disadvantage.
In addition, the Congress will review developments in the West Asia conflict, including the recently announced two-week ceasefire involving the United States-Israel and Iran.
The Congress has been severely critical of the government's handling of the West Asia crisis and took a swipe at the Centre, saying that the role played by Pakistan in bringing about the ceasefire is a "severe setback" to Modi's "highly personalised diplomacy".
The opposition party has also asked why Modi was not in the picture at all during the ceasefire negotiations.