NEW DELHI: Hosted by Congress, 15 opposition parties met on Friday for the second time this week to chalk out a common strategy for the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Leaders of the 15 political parties met in Parliament premises in the morning and later went to take part in the farmers’ protest (Kisan Sansad) at Jantar Mantar.
Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Manoj Jha of RJD, Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari and Gourav Gogoi of the Congress included those who attended the meeting.
Even last time this week, 15 political parties had attended the breakfast meeting hosted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Constitutional Club on August 3. However, there was one change on Friday.
The parties which took part in the last meeting besides the Congress were DMK, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (SS), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), CPI(M), CPI, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Kerala Congress (M), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), National Conference (NC), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).
On Friday, JMM did not come. However, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) representative was present in today’s meeting.
Despite being invited, AAP did not attend the last meeting. Though Mayawati-led BSP was also invited, it did not attend both the meetings.
The invitation to AAP and the party attending it are extraordinary developments. AAP is Congress’s principal rival in Punjab. In the 2018 assembly election, while Congress won 77 seats, AAP - contesting its maiden election - bagged 20 seats while SAD and BJP won 15 and three seats respectively.
AAP and Congress are pitted against each other again in the 2022 Punjab assembly election.
Besides, it was AAP that dislodged Congress in Delhi in 2013 to win again in 2015 and 2020. Congress, which had ruled for 15 years with Sheila Dikshit as the chief minister, has failed to open its account in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections.
Meanwhile, on the last occasion, the MPs, led by Rahul Gandhi, rode bicycles to reach Parliament in a symbolic protest over the rise in prices of petroleum products.
Today, they lent their support to the farmers protesting against the three agri-marketing laws at Jantar Mantar, close to Parliament.
Talking to mediapersons, Rahul Gandhi said the opposition parties were protesting against the Pegasus spyware issue and the three farm laws. “You know what is happening in Parliament. We want the Pegasus snooping issue to be discussed but the government is not allowing it.”
Among the opposition parties which attended the meeting, while DMK is Congress’s ruling coalition partner in Tamil Nadu, NCP and SS are with it in Maharashtra. JMM, despite being Congress’s coalition partner in Jharkhand, was absent in today’s meeting.
Lalu Prasad-led RJD is Congress’s coalition partner in Bihar while Akhilesh Yadav-headed SP was its alliance partner in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election in which the slogan ‘UP ke do ladke’ had gained currency.
The Congress has a complicated relationship with the CPM and CPI. They are their rivals in Kerala but had contested as alliance partners in this year’s West Bengal assembly election.
